Total Immersion
by Maverick Soldier
Summary: I know, another self insertion, but here goes: A girl gets pulled into her fave game, Jak 2,surprise surprise. But this time, she doesn't get in while the getting is good. Been on break for a while
1. Prison

"Crap!" There was a small thud as a frankly frustrated girl threw her controller to the floor, the image on the television screen falling into the same endless abyss for, what seemed like, the hundredth time. She slapped her forehead with a smack and rubbed her temples for a moment as she watched the game reset, the hero of the video game appearing standing and ready to go. The mental headache subsiding, the young woman reached again for the controller.

"Oh come on!" Said an equally annoyed female voice. "You have been doing this same part for, like, an hour!" And she was not stretching the fact. Truthfully, she had been playing for more then an hour, although when one was so submersed time seemed irrelevant. The watch on her wrist would have betrayed the truth of the time to her but she didn't bother to check. The two friends had been playing Jak II all weekend without stopping except to eat and sleep. For two girls who couldn't be more than 19 and with nothing else to do, that was their idea of a good weekend.

"Just gimme a few more tries, Rika." Said the first girl as she tossed her black hair from her face and started again, before her friend could reply. Rika sighed as her friend was, again, totally connected to the game. She turned from her seated friend and watched the progress of the video game hero. After a minute of the sound of frantic clicking of the controller buttons, the same irritated sigh came from the seated girl. It had been a predictable cycle particularly for the last few hours. Even though the pair had played the game many times before, and the hard parts became easier, there were times when the hardest parts still seemed very difficult.

"Kaida, you are taking this way to seriously." said Rika, tossing her shorter blonde hair out of her face. But her words fell on ears, already occupied with the sounds of buzzing lasers and destruction. Kaida only nodded slightly as she began the game again, this time, her eyes hazel never leaving the screen. Despite her constant failure, she seemed to be a glutton for punishment, as she continued without a break. Rika knew the feeling but she couldn't help laughing at the girl sometimes, and occasionally shaking her head at the repetitive antics of the girl. How she ever got tan with this habit of staying in front of the television astounded her.

"Well, you might me satisfied feeding off the radiation from that Play Station, but I am hungry." Rika got to her feet after watching her for another moment and wandered out of the game room. "I'm going to get something to eat." Again Kaida just nodded, missing the chance for workless food. Rika sighed and went to the kitchen to make some ramen, muttering about her friend's one track mind. Even though this might be Kaida's apartment, she knew all to well where everything was. Soon the sound of boiling water could be heard and the smell of seasoned ramen fluttered through the house.

Kaida continued playing, unaware of her friend leaving. When ever this happened about 5 minutes she would look up and ask 'Where are you going?' and after a long pause her brain would catch up to everything that had happened. She moaned again as Jak fell off the edge into the abyss but this time did not throw her controller to the ground. She continued to stare at the screen, intent on making it past this level. She was determined, and when she put her stubborn mind to something, she rarely gave up.

She checked her watch out of habit when a clock in the other room chimed the hour. After a long moment of waiting and internal prep for the next try, she noticed something strange, Jak had disappeared off the screen, but the picture still showed the abyss. She blinked at the, mostly, black screen. She wondered if the game had frozen. It was rare, but sometimes it would happen. Kaida watched as all motion on the screen stopped, and the sounds too became silent. Kaida squinted at the screen unsure if the long time playing had finally killed her brain. The picture suddenly seemed to be on fast rewind through the story of the game. She watched the game flash back to the beginning as Jak, Daxter, Keira and Samos were getting into the rift rider, and there the rewind stopped. She put down the controller and tried to figure out what was happening as the story began to play again, though still silent.

"Hey! What is the deal!"Shouted Kaida. She knocked the controller as she stalked up to the tv. She bent down so that she was level with the screen, sure now that it must be real, as nothing else seemed to be a hallucination. As Jak and company fell into the warp stream they disappeared and the tv screen seemed to freeze again as it continued to just show the warp stream. Kaida gasped, anger forgotten, as the screen began to get bigger, not the entire tv, just the glass part of the screen. She backed up a step as the screen expanded until it was a circle about 4' across, and had become circular. She was about to scream when she suddenly felt the pull of the screen, almost like a magnet, and was pulled off her feet and sucked in. Thought Kaida couldn't see it, once she was sucked in, the tv returned to normal, and the screen flashed 'One year later'. As the words vanished from the screen, there was a moment of fuzz and the scene returned to show Jak standing ready by the edge of the abyss.

Kaida closed her eyes as the warp stream flashed by her. The light was blinding and the feeling of falling was making her sick to her stomach. She attempted to open her eyes and look around. All that she could see was the flow of lights and energy, blue and white and painfully bright. She looked straight ahead as a blinding light began to grow directly in front of her. She shut her eyes painfully and put her arms out in front of her self to try and block out the light. WHAM! She hit hard ground and with a groan, her arms not saving her from rolling over a few times and scraping her self up good. She slowly sat up holding her head as her stopped ringing.

"What happened?" she groaned to herself, "god that hurt." Her forearms smarted and she felt her chin heating up as a bruise formed. Her bare knees were bruised and cut too. As she looked at herself she realized that she was sitting on pavement, like a street. When she looked up her jaw slacked slightly. She stood up, all her previous pain forgotten, and spun around with wide eyes. She was standing in a strange city, a few passers by looking at her strangely, but none of them stopping. The warm ground that she stood on was littered with trash and gravel. She was bruised, not broken, but she honestly couldn't even feel it and she was sure her head was fine, even though she thought she must be dreaming when it sank in that all the people passing by had ears that were long and stretched back about 5-7or 8 inches from their base. Some of the people even had strange pets on their shoulders or leashes that she had never seen before.

After a long time of staring and wandering slowly, her brain began to work again and slowly the recognition dawned. She knew this place, it looked like a city she had seen before but only on the television. 'I am in Haven City!' she thought at last, 'But how did I get here?' Looking up she saw vehicles flying over head, some slower than others. It had to be Haven City, even if it was just a video game, her brain couldn't make any other sense of the situation. It was all too real to dismiss as a dream. Unfortunately as she turned around again, she didn't have time to wonder and more, as a group had, in fact, taken notice of her. A group of red suits that she quickly identified as Haven City's infamous Krimzon Guards walked up to her, weapons ready. One of them stepped forward, his red hair and lack of a helmet instantly set him apart from the rest, he was the same one that had captured Jak. If this really was Haven she was in trouble, and she knew it.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" he stalked towards Kaida and she took a step back. "I heard there was a strange disturbance in this area, looks like it was better than I thought. Look at you." his cold eyes went up and down her body. "Your not from around here, I am not even sure what you are. With ears like that I bet you would make a fun new test animal for the Baron." Kaida didn't like the characteristic cold smile that was creeping on to this man's face. "He can always use something to kill for fun anyway. You are coming with me." The man she knew to be Erol gave her no time to argue. Kaida didn't say anything, she knew where they were going to take her, and she sure as hell didn't want to go. She had no idea what she would do to escape but she knew she sure as hell couldn't stay here. She was about to run when she felt the butt of a gun connect with her head, and everything went black.

When Kaida woke up she was being dragged down a long hallway, her bare feet being worn a little raw by the concrete and steel floors. She blinked a few times waiting for her vision to clear, though in the dim light there wasn't a whole lot to see. If this was Haven, she had a good idea where she was. The cold plain gray color of the massive open space gave it away. Floor upon floor of blinking cell door lights more intimidating now than when she had first seen this place. She had escaped from here in the game with ease. But... this wasn't a game, she knew. It wouldn't just work like that.

The guards roughly threw her into a small cell and she collapsed on the floor. It had a grate in the door and a grate to ether side, probably opening to other cells. Kaida sat up and leaned against the side of the cell, waiting for her head to stop throbbing, or to wake up from this nightmare. A nightmare was the only thing that would make sense in her mind but everything told her this was more than that. The pain was telling her this was something she couldn't just wake up from. She heard the heavy footsteps of the guards coming closer again. She curled up, hoping that they weren't going to come for her before her vision had a chance to clear, or ever. But the guards turned and went to the cell next to her's. She heard something thud heavily to the floor in the cell, and the guards snickered as a small moan came from whatever it was. Kaida couldn't help but feel a surge of anger at their laughter.

'Its another prisoner the Baron is torturing.' she thought. The sound of footsteps went away again, and she saw some of the lights that had been on earlier go off. She shut her eyes and stretched out on the floor until the world stopped tilting. She forced the nausea from her stomach and fought with her eyes closed to make everything feel the right way up. When she felt a little better she sat up and looked around. She glanced at her watch, which was surprisingly intact.

It had been about half an hour since she had last checked the time, which was only a few minutes before being sucked up by her television and spit out onto some impossible pavement. She sat up slowly, so that she didn't restart her headache, and then, carefully stood up. She put her hands on the top of her head as she felt the brain splitting sensation of her headache exploding again. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, waiting for the feeling to subside.

'Standing might not have been the best idea, but now that I am up, I may as well take a look around.' she thought, trying to justify the self induced headache. She looked through the grate on the left side of her stall and into the next cell. There was no one in that stall and she hoped there never had been. She looked out of her door and saw the huge room that she had also seen in the game. She could make out rows of prison cells to ether side of her, and on the other side of the room. It looked exactly like the game did. She could see the pit in the center of the stacked tower and the stack of boxes that would have lead to her escape. Unfortunately she could also make out the most frighteningly real part of this nightmarish place, the table. Its leather and steel bindings reflecting some light in the dimness.

The table was the single thing that feared in the whole place. In the game it had been were Jak had been experimented on with dark eco. And here she was sure that more than a few souls had died on that metal slab. She then turned to the window on her right and looked through. She gasped slightly and her heart skipped in surprise as she made out the shape of a figure on the floor. It was Jak laying on the floor of the cell.

'But,' she thought, 'I thought that he escaped from prison in the beginning of the game!?' She noticed that he was still wearing the clothes he had on before Daxter had given him new ones. He was unconscious but his face was dirty and still held a pained expression. She could clearly tell that he had been having dark eco treatments for some time, huge bruises and needle track marks gave that away. But he didn't look exactly like he had when he escaped in the game. He still had that slightly fearful childish look to him, plus his hair was only starting to be long enough to fall down his neck.

She looked around her cell quickly and found a dish of slightly dirty water. She tore a sleeve off her t-shirt and dipped it in the water and then climbed to the window and held the cloth through the bars so that some drops of water landed on Jak's face. His face flinched for a moment before his eyes opened slowly. To him, the dim light was horribly bright and he blinked and squinted before he could see anything. He turned his head and looked up at her, peeking through the bars. She watched him to see if Jak was ok, hardly believing it was him, and almost hoping it wasn't. As soon as he was sure he could move, he pushed himself into a corner, and leaned on the wall. He made a small moan noise as he leaned against a particularly bad bruise and shifted a little. He had moved out of her range of vision, so Kaida walked away from the window and sat with her back against the wall of her own small cell.

She felt herself nod off, out of pure mental exhaustion. A little later she was awoken as she heard the sounds, again, of Krimzon guard boots coming closer to the cells, but this time it sounded like there was only two. She heard them opening and shutting a few cell doors, and dropping something into them. When they got to Jak's stall she heard them talking. "Well, the silent one, looks like he is sleeping." said one guard, his deep voice not sounding cruel at first.  
"Yeah, and we wouldn't want to wake him up, so why don't we just skip him for today and let him get his rest?" said the other. She heard them both laugh as they shut the door. She could hear a small whimper from his stall and she knew full well that they were laughing simply at the fact that they had known that he was awake. When they came to her door they jerked it open, and she could see one guard holding a dish of something, and the other had a gun pointed at her.

"Looks like the new subject is awake. We should feed her, since tomorrow will be a full day for her." he laughed sadistically and threw the dish into her cell. It was obvious they thought of her only as an animal, and by the sounds of it, all the prisoners were animals to them. Kaida supposed that was the Krimson Guard mentality. When she heard their boots grow dimmer, she crawled up to the dish. There were several pieces of old bruised fruit, a small sliver of meat, and some thick gravy slop. She picked up one of the fruits wondering what they were. She had never seen theses fruits before. Her stomach growled and she knew she should have taken Rika up on her food offer. She was hungry, but she wasn't sure if she wanted the strange fruit ether. She split one of the fruits open on her knee. It spit like a cantaloupe and smelled almost like one too, although it was the size of a grapefruit.

"Its not dangerous." said a soft, slightly hoarse voice.

Kaida looked up in surprise to see Jak looking into her cell through her window, she had not even heard him move. She turned around to face him and looked up at him. She looked down at the two halves of fruit she was holding and stood up. As she walked towards the window Jak took a few steps back, his clear blue eyes were uncertain. She held the half through the bars and offered it to him. It was strange to see him like this. He seemed so afraid.

"I know that they didn't give you anything, so you can have some of mine." she said simply and softly. He looked from the fruit in her hand to her face and back again. She stretched her arm a little more in a more blunt 'take-it' gesture. He reached up, betting on the hope she was not just teasing him, and took the fruit from her. He looked briefly at Kaida again and bit into the little fruit hungrily. Kaida watched him eat for a moment and then turned to her own fruit. She carefully bit into a soft pink and yellow fruit. It was actually pretty good, and she had a feeling it would be even better if it hadn't been so old and beaten up. She didn't even realize it until she was suddenly looking at her empty hands, but she had begun eating like a starving dog. She picked up the next piece of fruit and looked it over. She bit into this one, and her face suddenly twisted in disgust. The greenish fruit was too sour, too sweet, too bitter, too tangy all at the same time. She wiped her mouth and turned to Jak and offered him the fruit.

He took it quickly and ate it equally quickly. She watched him noting that he seem like a starving dog himself. She began to wonder how often they fed their prisoners. All the questions she had never wondered before came to mind. Would she be able to talk to other prisoners? Did they ever go outside, and what were they in for? She had a feeling that although many other were criminals, some of them might just be in here for saying the wrong thing.

'The probably feed them enough to keep them alive.' she thought bitterly, not caring to wonder about the more morbid things. In the game all she had known was that Jak was alive and could do all of the moved required to escape, she had never paused to think about how often he had been fed. She suddenly felt bad, though she had no idea why. She stuck one finger in the gravy/mush stuff that she had also been given. It had a bland flavor of something you were expected to eat while watching someone else eat a very rich chocolate cake. She lifted the dish with the remaining fruit and the 'mush' and rested the edge of the dish in the small sill of the barred window.

"You look hungry, help yourself. This stuff seems like the stuff I would eat only if I was very hungry." she said in the same tone as she had before. "And I am not quite that hungry." He looked at her and took another piece of fruit. Kaida couldn't help but watch him. It was so strange to see him like this, with her own eyes. Questions welled up in her mind. There was silence for a moment, save the sounds of eating, then she had to ask.

"How often do we get to eat?" she asked while picking up the last of the fruit to eat. Jak looked at her and held up one finger. He obviously was still a man of few words, though not mute by any means. It only took her a moment to understand what he had meant by the gesture.

"They only feed up once a day?" she asked slightly louder. Jak nodded, and Kaida looked at the fruit in her hand. She wasn't really surprised, it seemed unlikely that the prisoners would be fed a nice wholesome meal 3 times a day. She was just about as likely to get some silk pillows and sheets to sleep on.

"I think I should save this then."she said then she put the fruit into one of the large pockets of her shorts. She stuck her fingers into the 'mush', since she didn't have any utensils, and ate a couple of mouthfuls. She licked her fingers and then wiped them on her jeans.

"Would you like the rest of this? I don't want anymore." she asked Jak, who had finished his fruit. She gave him a slight smile as he began eating the 'mush' through the bars, all the time looking like a starving animal. When he had finished she put the dish down and Jak moved out of her view. Kaida could hear the sound of Jak sitting down, or laying down, she wasn't sure which. She sighed deeply, her headache still swimming at the back of her mind.

"Since we are probably going to be stuck here for a long while I think that it would be good to know each other's names; my name is Kaida." She spoke through the window. Though she didn't really expect a response since she already knew his name. Even if he was still awake, she figured he wouldn't want to get to know someone who, for all he knew, would die the next day. And even if he did trust her, it wouldn't really mean anything to Kaida. With any luck, the storyline of the game was still the same and he was going to escape sometime in the future, and she would be alone again.

"Jak." a quiet hoarse voice said simply. She smiled, though it wasn't really a happy smile. She had always wanted to be in the game, but not like this. The adventure was what she had wanted but with all the safety of being able to restart, or even if it was just like a vacation. She moved to the back wall of her cell and rested her back against it, massaging a sore shoulder. She shut her eyes, still hoping that she would wake up and find that she had passed out on her couch. She felt herself slipping into a dreamless sleep. She hated dreamless sleep, time passed much to quickly, and nights like that were boring. That would be the last night that she would ever think that.

* * *

Edited just a little after a long long time 


	2. Nightmare

"Jak." a quiet hoarse voice said simply. She smiled, though it wasn't really a happy smile. She had always wanted to be in the game, but not like this. The adventure was what she had wanted but with all the safety of being able to restart, or even if it was just like a vacation. She moved to the back wall of her cell and rested her back against it, massaging a sore shoulder. She shut her eyes, still hoping that she would wake up and find that she had passed out on her couch. She felt herself slipping into a dreamless sleep. She hated dreamless sleep, time passed much to quickly, and nights like that were boring. That would be the last night that she would ever think that.

Kaida was deep in an empty sleep when the door to her cell was roughly slammed open. She jumped at the noise, her foggy eyes fighting to focus in the low lights. As the sleep cleared the forms of 2 Krimson Guards standing in the doorway began to appear. The pair in red stalked over to her, both with weapons pointed at her head and heart. Kaida pushed herself backwards on the floor until she felt the back wall of the cell. One guard lowered his weapon only to grab her roughly by the arm and pull her out of her cell. The other guard grabbed her opposite arm and the two dragged her down the aisle. At first out of fear, she did nothing, and allowed herself to be pulled, and suddenly all her senses realized at once where she was being taken.

She cried out, fear taking over all of her movements, and started thrashing. In her sudden adrenaline rush she managed to wrench her way out of the grips of the unprepared man on her left, and took a frantic punch at the one on her right. Kaida's fist managed to break through the simple visor, giving him a minor black eye, and slicing up her fist. She barely felt the pain and she was able to pull out of his grasp. She lunged forward, not even thinking about where she might be going, just knowing she had to go. She barely got 3 feet before something hard connected with the back of her head. The blow was not hard enough to knock her out, but enough to knock her down. Kaida saw spots and the pain in her head from the day before returned. A cold chuckle filled her ears as she struggled to clear her head, and she recognized the voice as Erol.

"Is this weak little shit causing you trouble?" he asked the guards condescendingly, though it was also meant as insult to her. He stalked around so that he was in front of Kaida and she could see his relatively clean boots. She lifted a hand to her head, trying to stop the pain, and tried to glare at him, although she could hardly bring herself to look up at him past his knees. She had despised him in the game for being a jackass, but now her dislike had reached a new level. He was sadistic, evil and generally dislike-able she knew, but there was just something worse about him when the slender man stood right in front of her. Erol just laughed in her face and spat on the floor in front of her, and kicked her remaining leaning hand out from under her. Kaida jerked forward and managed to catch herself with her opposite hand, but Erol just laughed.

The guards grabbed her roughly by the upper arms as Erol moved to the side to allow the guards to do their work. The Krimson Guards allowed her no time to get to her feet and basically dragged her the rest of the way and jerked her onto the table, strapping her in. The rest of the way to the table, Kaida had fought to keep her knees, shins and feet from being torn up on the floor and on the table she attempted to resist but with Erol close by she wasn't nearly brave enough to really fight. A light clicked on and glared directly in her eyes from above, adding to her growing headache. She could hear the guards move away, but other people were still moving around her. She tried to turn her strapped down head to see them but with the light in her eyes and her limited movement she fought just to keep her eyes open. Even though she could feel the headache growing in the back of her head, the cuts on her hand and the scrapes on her legs, still she continued to hope that this was just a dream and she would just wake up. Time seemed to slow and she felt like she was burning up under the lights. Her headache made it all worse and she felt like she had been there for ages. Then she heard that voice that she despised most, and at this moment, feared most.

"This is the girl that you told me about, Erol?" the voice was deep, gritty and sounded even just a little bit angry. It was the Baron Praxis, ruler by force and lies of Haven City. Kaida felt herself go just a little cold when he spoke.

"Yes sir." replied Erol, with a little pride in his voice, though she had no idea why. Kaida opened her eyes so slightly, blocking out as much light as she could, trying to see what was going on. She could barely see, but she could see the faint silhouette of the slim, tall Erol, and the heavily built Baron, standing next to her. Her eyes were soon overloaded with light and she had to close her eyes again. A hand reached out and grasped her jaw tightly, turning her head forcibly from one side to the other. She pulled her jaw away with a sudden jerk and snapped the hand. It was a bad idea, she realized as she was rewarded with a swift slap to the side of her face.

"Well, sir?" Erol prompted, obviously looking for approval from his Baron.

"She has small ears and the clothes she has look strange. She looks a bit small, and she has a spirit we'll have to break." Said the Baron.

"She might be small, but I think she could be useful. She looks like she took a hard fall and still a moment ago she punched on of my Krimson Guards. Her body seems resilient, and that bad attitude will be easy enough to tame." Erol replied.

"I suppose. And you think that she would make a good candidate for testing? Many of the prisoners we get are such disappointments." asked the Baron, Kaida could hear his heavy foot steps as he walked around to the other side of the table, still inspecting her.

"At first look, it seems like she might be able to. As I said, she is resilient, and she is obviously of a different make than the other prisoners. But if you would like, we could give her a test today." suggested Erol. The Baron leaned over her and under the light, and she could see the cold smirk on his face.

"I think that would be a good idea." He replied and laughed quietly and sadistically. She began to shiver as she heard clicks and clacks as the began to load and set the machine. Her heart was beating faster as she tried, frantically now, to tell herself that this was only a dream, but it wasn't working. The machine lowered slowly and menacingly, and Kaida could hear the engine start up. A huge spike of a needle lowered towards her, while another smaller one reached for her arm. Suddenly the smaller needle jabbed into her arm, drawing a small amount of blood. A small mechanical computer voice announced its doings. "Running diagnostic." There was a clicking and a small noise and the voice sounded again. "Diagnostic complete. Subject is healthy, free of disease. DNA sequence contains unknown elements. Beginning injection cycle." The small needle retreated back to the machine and, even in the blinding light, she saw large needle move towards her again. She couldn't imagine what vein or artery it could be going for as the tip of the needle pointed to her abdomen. She let out a cry of pain as it peirce her skin and sank deep into her muscles and flesh. The pain was nothing compared to a moment later when the machine began to force the dark eco into her body. With every ounce of eco the truth was finally forced in to her denial ridden mind: this was not a dream. The pain of the eco was not just a feeling, it was tangible. There was no other way to put it, she could almost taste it. She didn't scream until it filled her whole body with the hopeless realization that this was not a dream. Then she screamed. Not the high pitched bloody-murder scream that other girls make, it was a deeper fuller, painful scream.

She screamed until she couldn't breathe, with her eyes wide open even under the bright lights. When the dose of eco that had been put in the machine was done, she felt like she had been under it for days. The needle retreated and another smaller one came to take another sample of her blood. Scanners from the machine look her over, reading her life signs. She couldn't speak, and her eyes were still wide, their pupils all but gone. Kaida was panting heavily with her mouth open, and the spill over of eco could be seen streaking over her like electricity, as her body fought to take in the energies. She thought she heard Praxis laugh somewhere in the background but she couldn't be sure.

"Well, I guess she will be a good one to run a few tests on." The Baron spoke as the machine finished giving him her final diagnostics. "DNA differences huh? I wonder what we can do to remedy that. Certainly I'll have to come up with something..." After his promise, rest of Praxis' words became just noises to her. The pain of the eco was still burning in her body, making all other contact feel dulled while her muscles tensed and released uncontrollably. She could vaguely feel someone un-tying her from the table, and lifting her off it. She knew the floor was scratching her knees badly, but right now it didn't seem that important. Even if she had wanted to she could have done nothing.

What was in her field of vision she could hardly see, it all looked like an underdeveloped picture. She doubted that her eyes had gone back to their normal size. When the guards reached her cell they roughly threw her in and shut the door, laughing lightly at how weak she was now. She didn't move, her body was limp and out of her control. Kaida lay slumped on the floor with her eyes open and unfocused. She could faintly hear small sounds that could have been a scuffle going on in Jak's cell, but she couldn't make herself get up, nor did she feel like she wanted to. Moving would just re-affirm her knowledge that this was real. She stayed that way for a while, not caring how long. She could have gotten up, she could have moved, she could have checked her watch, she could have done a lot of things but she continued to lay there. The pain ebbing, though still throbbing deep in her bones, and her vision had cleared. But it was just the strange and heavy feeling of despair that kept her pinned to the ground under its enormous weight.

She had never felt despair like this before. Kaida had been a girl who lived in a good town, with good parents, with a good amount of money. She was healthy, strong and smart. She had only ever lost a single loved family member but not her parents, and even when she had been sad and believed herself to be despairing, it had never felt like this before. She could hear, faintly, the yells of someone, she assumed Jak, from the testing table, and she wondered if this was how he felt when he had first come to this place here. After all, he had been thrown here from his own word, even if it was just from the past to the future.

After sometime, she didn't know, or care how long, the scuffing and slam that came from nearby told her that Jak had been put back in his cell. With in a relatively short time he began to move around again. She wasn't sure why, but just then, when she heard him moving around, the despair she felt spilled out and she began to cry. She didn't have the energy to cry out loud, or even to sob, but the simple tears trailing down her face said it all. Her breathing was heavy and disjointed as her emotional structure collapsed. She stopped fairly quickly, but remained lying on the floor, her tears pooled by her face. Even when the guards finally put her dish if old gross food in her cell, she didn't move.

Eventually, night fell somewhere outside the walls of the prison and most of the guards left. Some of the brighter lights clicked off, thought I barely affected the light in the cells, and she decided that she should get up. She moved, just crawling, towards her dish and ate random things from it, not even remembering the fruit she had saved for later. Though she would not have eaten it even if she had remembered. All the time she had spent on the ground came back to her. She looked at her watch, but it was broken now. The arching energy from the dark eco test had killed the poor thing and cracked its glass. She took it off, but slipped it in her pocket.

'Way to go Kaida.' she thought to herself, 'You wasted a whole day sulking on the floor.' She knew she had been far more then sulking, but she didn't care, she needed to motivate herself some how. She stood up on weak legs and looked through the window into Jak's cell. His dish was licked clean and he was a sleep on the floor. Kaida felt loneliness set in for a moment and wanted to wake him up. She wrestled with her desires for a companion, but when she noticed that his face was not twisted in pain or fear, she decided to let him sleep. She slipped to the floor again and shut her eyes. It was the first time all day that she realized that she was tired. Kaida had been painfully awake all day, even if she had not been doing anything. She stretched out as best as she could and finally nodded off.

She might have had a good sleep the night before but tonight was almost the opposite. Memories and nightmares filled her mind. Kaida felt as if she was running down a long hallway. It was dark for a time, but then she could see Rika, standing with a friendly scowl on her face. Kaida smiled and tried to run faster, ready to laugh with her friend. However when she got closer, SMACK! She ran into a wall. She fell backwards onto her butt and looked up at the wall to her cell. She tried to find away around it but she couldn't, Kaida was trapped. She grabbed the bars in her cell door and tried to force it open. Suddenly the wall disappeared and she tried to move, but her arms and legs felt like they were tied to something. She turned as best as she could and found that it was that dreaded table. She struggled against the ties but it was pointless the leather straps had her held down tight. Then Praxis was standing there, laughing at her, and she watched as he loaded a needle with dark eco. Then it was just pain.  
The pain wasn't nearly as sharp, but it was still there, and she had never had a dream that was so painful. Kaida tried to look around Praxis to see Rika, but she could barely see Rika's face. It was like Rika was floating away, slowly, into the distance. She strained her head forward to see, or even to call out to her, but someone grabbed her neck and forced her back against the table. It was Erol. He smiled sadistically as he pulled out something. Then before she could do anything he was forcing eco down her throat like water. She tried to cough or spit out the substance but it didn't work. Out of the corner of her eye she tried to look and see Rika again, but Rika was turning and walking away, as if she couldn't see her. Kaida wanted to call out to her, but she was gagging on the liquid, she felt like she was drowning. She couldn't breathe, and the substance was burning at the flesh of her throat. She tried to pull away but it didn't work. Then she felt something wet and heavy in her hair, like rain or sweat. Her chest felt like she was going to explode, and tears ran from her eyes as she choked and sputtered. She tried one more time to call out but she just gagged. She felt like she was going to die and then... she woke up.

Something really was wet in her hair. She woke up with a start, jerking upright, and instantly grabbed her throat, breathing heavily. She felt cold sweat on her body and her hands were trembling. Kaida's fingers went to her hair and she could feel water in her hair that wasn't from sweat. But from what? She turned and looked up to see a pair of blue eyes looking at her through the bars of her cell. A hand reaching through them, fingers still dripping with the remainders of a palm full of water. She recognized the worried look belonging to Jak. She sighed and slumped to the ground once more, her breathing still uneven. Her hand on her heart told her it was still beating very quickly. She opened her eyes eventually and looked up at Jak, who was still at the bars dividing their cells.

"Was..." she tried to speak, and she found her throat was raspy and dry. She swallowed hard, the spittle burning at the driest parts of her throat. Her voice was faded like it was over used. "Was I...screaming?" Jak nodded, and Kaida swallowed again and looked at the ground, avoiding Jak's face.

"Do the prisoners here scream in their sleep often?" Kaida asked, quietly and looked back to Jak for a response. Jak nodded again, is cool eyes still on Kaida as if she might pass out at any moment. "Thanks, for waking me up." Jak smiled slightly and she took that for a you- welcome. Jak's face suddenly lit up with a thought and left the window for a moment. He took a fruit from the remainder of his own dinner, one he remembered she had seemed to enjoy, and dropped it through the bars close to her. She picked up the fruit and looked at it wonderingly. She looked up at him, and his eyes told her it was hers. He smiled again then disappeared into his cell.

She sighed and bit into the fruit. The juice dripped down her throat, burning at first then surprisingly, making it feel better. When she was finished with the soft fruit she curled up on the floor, feeling only slightly better. She wasn't sure she wanted to sleep again, the shadows of her nightmare still haunting the corners of her mind. But with what Praxis had said she knew for certain she wouldn't survive without sleep. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep again, hoping for a calmer dream. Kaida had only the slightest bit of an idea that if she thought today was bad, tomorrow would be the worst thing in her entire life...


	3. Torture

"Do the prisoners here scream in their sleep often?"... She sighed and bit into the fruit. The juice dripped down her throat, surprisingly, making it feel better. When she was finished with it she curled up on the floor. She wasn't sure she wanted to sleep again, but with what Praxis had said she wasn't sure if she would survive without sleep. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep again. If she thought today was bad, she had no idea that tomorrow would be the worst...  
  
The rest of her night was spent in short patches of troubled sleep, and she usually woke to find her throat raspy. The first few times she looked through her cell bars to see Jak, but he was sleeping again. She figured that after being here for so long that he was used to prisoners screaming. After the first few times of waking up, she would just drink some water and then try to fall back asleep.  
  
Once morning finally came, Kaida only knew that it was morning because of the loud bang as guards began opening the huge doors that were shut at night. The bang would have woken her up if it hadn't been for the fact that she was already awake.  
  
She pulled one of the fruits that she had saved out of her pocket and began eating it. As some a couple of guards passed by her door she caught a snippet of their conversation. They were talking about how they had gotten up so early that the sun was only just rising as they arrived. She sighed.  
  
Kaida had only been here for about 3 days and already she missed the sight of the sun. She sighed and waited for the sound of the two voices that would signal the start of her torture for the day. Not long after those thoughts had drifted through her mind, she heard the clunk of steel toed boots and heavy foot steps on the floor.  
  
'After my torture I will not sulk around my cell all day. I will get up and move.' she promised herself. 'And' she added, 'I will give a couple of those guards a black eye and a bloody nose.'  
  
She was trying hard not to admit to herself that she was afraid, afraid of what Erol and the Baron had said, afraid that she would be stuck here, afraid that she would never get home. Soon the tell-tale thud of several pairs of heavy boots noted to her that it was her turn to be 'worked on'. She did move even as the guards swung the door open. They came over and forcibly picked her up and dragged her out of the cell.  
  
Once they were clear of the confined space she began to thrash. She yanked out the grasp of ne of the guards and swung her fist into his face. She felt the crunch as she smashed his nose. One guard grabbed her from behind, so she began to thrash harder, and her foot collided with the stomach of the guard next to her causing him to bend over. She swung her foot again, this time catching him in the face. She didn't know what she hit, all she knew was that it hurt him. She managed to smash two more guards before she felt the all too familiar smack of a gun butt connected with her head. She sank to the ground as she waited for her vision to clear. Two guards, who hadn't been injured, proceeded to drag her to the table. The familiar blinding light and cold metal feel greeted her as she was strapped down.  
  
"We believe that we have found a way to make some changes to you." came the cold deep drawl of Baron Praxis,"But should this experiment fail, I am sure we can find another freak."  
  
She tried to put on a brave face but simply the sound of Praxis or Erol's voice for some reason made her tremble. Probably because those voices meant pain and suffering. Some where off to the side the sound of Erol's quiet laughter pulled her out of her train of thought.  
  
Even through the blinding light she could see the glow of the vile of dark eco that would soon be loaded into the machine. But the sound of the vile being loaded didn't come, instead she heard the unmistakable sound of a cell door being opened and the sound of a small scuffle. The series of sounds repeated themselves a few more times before the stomp of guard boots could be heard coming closer. The muffed sound of something being half dragged, half carried also came to her attention.  
  
"Bring spare restraints." came the cynical voice of Erol. The guards dropped the thing against the side of the table and tied it with leather restraints. She craned her neck to try and see what they were doing, and caught a glint of metal as Erol moved towards the prone figure. She realized in a moment what they had been doing with the doors and prisoners; the metal thing was large needle and syringe. They had been collecting blood. But the syringe was only one third of the way filled, that meant that the person they had tied up would be filling it up.  
  
The figure made a groan in pain as Erol stuck the needle in it's shoulder. She recognized the voice as Jak.  
  
'B-but this didn't happen in the game...!" she cried in her head. 'What is going on?! Why is this happening?!'  
  
When they had drawn enough blood, to her horror, Erol inserted the needle to the vile of dark eco and added blood to the mixture.  
  
"We thought, since it'll be his turn next, we may as well bring him out here so he can hear you scream, and it makes it so much easier to collect the blood." She heard Praxis say, then came the familiar click of the vile being loaded. She took a deep breath ready to curse him, but the machine had started and all that came out was an incoherent scream.  
  
The pain was different this time. It seemed almost like she could feel the cumulative pain of the victims who's blood was now twisting in her body. It was unbelievable, and indescribable, and to Kaida it felt like it went on forever. When it was over and they unbuckled her she simply slipped to the floor, she couldn't have stopped herself if she tried. As they had before, the guards simply picked her up and dragged her to her cell. As they towed her away she managed to roll her head to the side to see who the poor unfortunate person was next on the table, and who's blood they had taken the most of. If she had the strength to be slightly shocked she would have been.  
  
Jak was slumped against the table glaring death at the guards around. She let her neck relax and shut her eyes. She was taken back to her cell as normal as usual and put her in.  
  
Once there, her body lay slack in the room. She had said that she wouldn't just sit there all day and sulk, but the truth was; even if she wanted to move her body was to weak to move at the moment. She heard sometime later, she had no idea how long, the sounds of Jak screaming, then the thud of his body being put back into his cell. Later she could hear the sounds of the guards bringing food and water, and only for this did she move. The guards opened the door and she sat up and glared at them. She gave them such a glare that there came no rude comments today, they just put her food down and left. She moved towards her food like a hungry animal and ate quickly. The night before she had not eaten much in her depression.  
  
Once she had devoured the nasty meal she slumped against the side of the cell and stared up at the ceiling. Her vision was a little out of focus but she figured that was from not blinking for a while. Sometime later she heard a shuffling from Jak's cell, and she got the feeling that someone was looking at her, so she glanced up at her window, to see Jak looking through the bars at her. They both remained silent for a few moments. Kaida noticed that he seemed to have a sad, almost apologetic look in his eyes. She unconsciously tilted her head slightly while wondering what could cause him to have such a look in his eyes.  
  
"I am sorry." He stated simply. His voice was deep like she had heard it on the game, but now it sounded grated and raspy from lack of use, except for screaming. 'For what?' she wondered. She voiced her opinion while still remaining on the floor looking at him.  
  
"For my blood in the eco." even thought the sentence was short, it still sounded as if it hurt to speak. She gave a small smile and a shrug, "Its not your fault." He smiled slightly back, and nodded. He soon disappeared from the cell window and she shut her eyes hoping to get some sleep.

Sorry it took so long to update this time. the reason is that a few weeks ago I broke a few fingers, so typing became very difficult. I am hoping to now be able to update faster. Thank you for all your patience! Mavericksoldier 


	4. Changes

"For my blood in the eco." even thought the sentence was short, it still sounded as if it hurt to speak. She gave a small smile and a shrug, "Its not your fault." He smiled slightly back, and nodded. He soon disappeared from the cell window and she shut her eyes hoping to get some sleep.   
  
A few months had passed since Kaida fell through a portal in her tv into what she thought to be a video game. She was now in prison, currently being used in experiments for the Barron.  
  
It had been a while since she had been able to see her reflection, but she was sure that she looked at least a little different. Kaida knew that her clothes were dirty and full of holes, she was sure she had lost weight due to her diet and the eco treatments, and she knew that she was covered in dirt. For a few days after she had arrived she had wanted to find a way clean herself up, and/or look in a mirror, but no such luck, and eventually she forgot about her appearance.  
  
To day seemed to start off as a good day. There would be not experiments today, since as it turned out, the Barron had gotten sick. Nothing serious, to her dismay, but it meant he could not over see their torture, and he didn't want to miss one moment of it. So, the prisoners were fed and left alone all day.  
  
Kaida didn't feel compelled to eat as quickly as she usually did, and was picking at her food. She was drifting in and out of her thoughts as she picked at her food. For the most part they were random harmless thoughts. Like, how she was going to kill Praxis, fun ways to torture Erol, how much eco it would take to make a cockroach explode, etc. But thinking to long will eventually end up in bringing up thoughts that you would rather not think about, and in her current state it was only a matter of time before one of such thoughts would come up. As she thought about killing Praxis, she found her self thinking of how he died close to the end of the game.  
  
The game.... those simple thoughts brought up the thoughts of playing video games, and home... 'Home...' she thought. She shook her head and sat up abruptly to try and get those thoughts out of her head.  
  
As she sat up she knocked into her water, causing some of it to spill out on the floor. It flowed over some pieces of broken glass that had come from a broken guard helmet(courtesy of Kaida). She looked down at the glass, ready to soak up the water before it spread over her sleeping space. As she glanced down the glass and the water made a makeshift mirror. Curious, Kaida moved to see her reflection better. She gasped at her own reflection.  
  
When she had been sucked into the portal she'd had shoulder length black straight black hair. She had been fairly tan, due to the summer sun. Her eyes had been a medium brown, and she had both her ears had been pierced twice, once at the bottom, and once in the cartilage. She stood up and looked down at her self.  
  
She hadn't looked at herself, since she had'nt seen the need to, but once she had caught herself in the refection, she couldn't help but look. In the mirror she had seen that her once pure black hair was now a little past her shoulder blades, and looked like it had been dipped 4 inches in blonde. Her eyes were now a bright green, and her skin was paler but holding a naturally tan skin tone. When she had arrived she had been wearing a pair of green denim shorts that went to mid-thigh and sat loosely on her waist, and a red tank top. Now, her shorts were short shorts(not to mention burned in places), and her tank top barely reached her waist, proving to her that she had, in fact, grown taller.  
  
With another look in the mirror she found that the most shocking change in her, was not the fact that she had grown, nor that she was tan with no sun, but that her ears were now long and slender like the other characters of the game. Her eyes remained wide as she tenitively reached up and ran a finger delicately along her right ear.  
  
Over the weeks her body, and especially her ears had been achy, and she had simply suspected that it was from the torture she had no idea that it was 'growing pains'. She swallowed and looked back at her reflection, her earings were still in her ears and added a rather interesting touch to her clothing. When she inspected her ears a little closer she noted that they were not as long as the few people she had seen up close here. She ran her fingers once more of her newly extended ears, then went back to the rest of her body.  
  
She had long since lost her shoes, so she had no idea if she had also gained a size in shoes or not. Kaida sighed and slumped back to the floor trying to calm down from her slight shock, and once again found her head filled with thoughts, many pertaining to home.  
  
'I wonder if, no not if, when I go back home I will stay like this.... I wonder what everyone will say...' she tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling and sighed. 'I hope it will turn out ok. I suppose though,' she thought looking down at her hands, 'if and when I escape from this place I will blend in better. I bet this is the result of mixing the blood with eco.' she sighed and slumped against the wall, determined to relax and enjoy her one day off of torture.  
  
'I wonder what other things are going to change about me because of this.' she shut her eyes and tried to remove the thoughts of Dark Jak, and all the angst fics she had read about that subject. 'I just hope not.'  
  
Yes, I know that was a short chapter. It was kind of a filler for in between. Thanks to a reviewer, I found that I did not add in a description of Kaida to my story, so that was one of my main goals of this chapter. My next chapter will start moving into the story line. The question is, what other changes are going to happen? Thanks! Read and Review please!! Mavericksoldier 


	5. Escape

'I wonder what other things are going to change about me because of this.' she shut her eyes and tried to remove the thoughts of Dark Jak, and all the angst fics she had read about that subject. 'I just hope not.'   
  
----------------------------------------One Year after the Arrival of Kaida, and Two since Jak's-------------------------------------------------- -------  
  
It was early morning, the beginning of a day that started just like the last 360-something days had. Kaida shifted on the floor of her cell before she finally bothered to open her eyes. She had been trapped in this prison, along with a few others for almost a year after falling into her tv that fateful day.  
  
There had been a few other people who had been held as prisoners here, but all except 2 had died, or more appropriately, were killed during the torturing experiments. The two who had somehow managed to survive miserably, were Jak and Kaida. Naturally when enough of the other prisoners died others would be pulled in out of the jail or off the streets, and then the large hall would be filled with the pained screams of those begging to be let out, or who were being tortured, though most went silent after a day or so.  
  
Kaida moved to sit up in her cell and looked around, getting used to the light. She had long since lost her vigor in rising early. After all, there was really no reason to bother with that since there was nowhere to go and nothing to do except wait until it was your turn to be tortured. Once she had become accustomed to the light she looked up at the window into the next cell over, and a few moments later Jak's face appeared in the opening.  
  
"Hey," he asked, and she smiled in response, "Well don't you seem happy." he said with a small smile on his face. "By the way, you don't happen to have any extra fruit do you? I kind of ate all mine last night." she shook her head with a smile.  
  
When he was hungry he could pile though the small plate of food that they were fed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small red fruit. It was slightly bruised but otherwise fine. She tossed it to him and he reached through the bars and caught it.  
  
"Thanks." he replied simply. She yawned as he took a bite out of the fruit, but otherwise remained silent. She slipped back to the floor and laid on her back with her hands behind her head, still watching Jak through the window. As he finished up she turned her head and stared at the ceiling. She unconsciously tugged her shirt down so that it covered her belly, but the truth was that she had long since outgrown her clothing due to the eco and blood mixture.  
  
Her entire body had been skimmed of fat and her muscles had toned more, probably due to the eco energy and the diet. Her ears had grown out long and slim. Unlike most of the other females in the game her ears were not as short and thick as their's, but longer and slimmer and curved slightly like Jak's. She had almost forgotten the way she used to look, and probably would have if she hadn't found her school id in her wallet in her pocket. She shut her eyes and started drifting off again.  
  
"Hey, don't go back to sleep you just woke up!" Said Jak, he smiled when she opened one eye to look at him. She shrugged from her place on the ground. Over the time that Kaida and Jak had spent here, Jak had for some reason found a way to come out of his mute condition, whereas, Kaida, for an unknown reason seemed to talk less and less the more Jak began to speak. Now, she only spoke when she had to with Jak, or when she was yelling at Praxis and/or Erol. She rolled on her side facing away from him, all the while grinning.  
  
"Hey!! Don't turn away from me!!" he yelled with mock anger. She rolled back over when she fell him hit her with the core of the fruit she had given him. She grinned at him and he grinned back. He soon turned and left the window, and she heard him slide to the floor and sit in silence. Again she found herself looking up at the ceiling for no good reason.  
  
After what seemed like a few hours she heard the stomp of all-too-familiar steel toed boots, and the clank of guards. She head the cell door next to her's open, and the person inside being dragged out. She didn't know what exactly was done to this one because they were taken elsewhere, but it was unusably short today ,and she suspected that they had died.  
  
She kept silent and put on her dangerous glare when the guard came to her door. She not only beat up the guards when they came to her cell but she made it as difficult as possible for them to get her out of her cell. She kept her glare on him as he came inside and forced her to her feet. She could tell that he was trying to intimidate her by being rough, but she also knew that he was shaking from all the stories of the guards that she beat up. Once on her feet she allowed him to push her out of her cell and walk her towards the torture table, but just when he began to think that the rumors were untrue and she was easy to handle, she turned on him. He was holding her arms behind her so she simply pulled a round-house kick and slammed him to the ground. She counted the predictable seconds before she was mobbed by more guards. She sighed mentally as they struggled to keep a hold on her. Eventually they managed to over power Kaida and forced her to the table.  
  
Today both Erol and Praxis were there watching her struggle on the table. Sometimes Praxis would come down and watch but not usually. Mostly it was just Erol. The torture began and ended as it usually did, but as her mind was floating in and out of consciousness she heard Praxis and Erol talking.  
  
"Her bio readings have obviously changed, that can be seen in her appearance... but I other then that she hasn't changed at all. The amounts of eco that were used should at least be showing somewhere other than in her appearance, but for some reason they are not. It could possibly be the blood that is negating more of the effects of the eco." came Erol's voice.  
  
"That's not good. She hasn't been here as long as some of the others but at the same time she has lived longer then most. We'll have to hope that the other project has succeeded." Praxis' voice showed some frustration as he spoke. She tried to open her eyes to see what was going on but it didn't work. All she could see was blurs of color and bright light. She guessed that the other project that they were talking about was Jak.  
  
She half hoped that it was, because that would mean that today was the day that Daxter would show up and he would escape. The other half of her didn't want this to be the day that he would leave since it would mean that she would be left alone. She was dragged back to her cell and left there. In her delirium she could hear them dragging Jak to the table and some where in the distance she could hear his screams, but soon she was falling into unconsciousness. In their last ditch attempt to change her, Praxis and Erol had used more eco then usual causing her temporary weakness. Soon everything went black. --------?- --------?- ------?- ------------------------------------------ -----------------  
  
Jak lay almost motionless on the table. His breath was short and painful, as it always was after a torture session. He didn't bother to open his eyes to look at Praxis and Erol, who were circling him, because he knew all he would see would be bright blurs. As he tried to stay conscious as the last of the energy was absorbing painfully into his body, the two others circled around him talking loudly.  
  
"Hmm..." came the deep voice of Praxis, "Nothing. I was informed this one might be different."  
  
"He is surprisingly resistant to your...'experiments', Baron Praxis." came the reply from Erol, as they continued circling Jak.  
  
"Argh!" Praxis leaned closer to Jak, yelling in his face, "You should at least be dead with all the dark eco I pumped into you!" he lifted Jak's head by his hair yelling at him.  
  
"What now?" asked Erol, "Metal head armies are pressing their attacks. Without a new weapon my men cannot hold them off forever."  
  
Praxis clenched his fists, "I will not be remembered as the man who lost the city to those vile creatures." he turned away from both Jak and Erol and took a step forward. "Move forward with the final plan. And Finnish off this, 'thing'" he motioned towards Jak, "tonight." he faced Erol for a moment, then turned and walked away.  
  
"As you wish." came Erol's cynical voice. He lifted Jaks head and puts his face eerily close to Jak's face, "I'll be back later..." then he too, turned and left. Jak continued to lay fairly motionless as his head and vision began to clear. He opened his eyes slightly waiting for his vision to clear.  
  
Suddenly there was a sound of the hover elevator moving, and the soft thud of something on the hard floor, then came a familiar voice:  
  
"Ding Ding, third floor, body chains, roach food, torture devices." It was Daxter. He jumped lightly onto Jak's chest, and began talking to the dazed friend.  
  
"Hey buddy, you seen any heroes around here? WHOA!" was his surprised shriek when he finally looked his friend over, "Wha'd they do to you?! Jak, its me, Daxter." Jak tried to focus his eyes on his old friend but is unsuccessful. "That's a fine Hello. I have been crawling around this place, risking my tail, literally;" he steps had, unknowingly, on Jak's stomach, making him jerk slightly. "To save you. I have been looking for you for two years!" when Jak doesn't respond Daxter pleads with Jak, shaking him slightly. "Say something, just this once."  
  
Jak's eyes suddenly became focused and filled with anger, and he lifted his head to speak, "I am gonna kill Praxis!" Daxter instantly puts his hand over his friend's mouth after his outburst.  
  
"Shhhhh! Right now we gotta get you outta here. Just let me figure out how to open the security locks for your chair so..." he was cut off as Jak took a deep breath and breaks the cuffs on his hands and feet. Daxter stared up at Jak as he turned towards him. Only to he didn't look like Jak anymore. He was pale as death and his hair had turned sliver-y white, and he had horns. His nails had grown to a scary length and sharpness and he was advancing on Daxter.(so sue me about the description. I should hope you all know what Dark Jak looks like.)  
  
"Jak?" came Daxter's uneasy voice as he backed up slowly. "Easy now, easy buddy. Its your old pal Daxter remember?" Only a moment before striking Daxter with his claws, Jak suddenly recognized Daxter.  
  
"Aarrgh...Daxter?" he quickly returned to his normal form, though looking very confused and tired.  
  
"What the heck was that?!" Yelled Daxter once Jak was himself. "Sheesh remind me not to piss you off." he jumped up onto Jak's shoulder and continued to talk, "Come on tall, dark and gruesome. Were outta here. I uh brought you some new threads. Put em on." After slipping into his new clothes the duo began looking for a way to escape that did not include the elevator that would make them as inconspicuous as a fox in a chicken coop. He spotted a pile of crates below a weird sort of door way. He started for the door but stopped only a second later. He turned back and headed for a particular cell.  
  
"Jak! What are you doing? We don't have time for this!" complained Daxter as Jak found the correct cell and preceded to pick the lock.  
  
"There is someone I have to help."he replied and continued working.  
  
"We don't have time for your little prison buddies, we gotta go!" Daxter still complained. After a moment there was a satisfying click as the lock opened. Jak quickly swung the door open and found Kaida slumped up against the wall of her cell. Though she was unconscious, he wasnt worried. This was often what happened when they changed the does of eco. Normally she would be out for about an hour, but today she needed to get up. He leaned over and gently shook her.  
  
"Kaida, Kaida wake up, we have to go." She made a small groaning noise in her throat and managed to open one eye enough to see him. It took a moment to register that it was Jak, and a moment more to realize that he was in her cell, standing just over her. Both her eyes snapped open and she looked up at him. A quick glance to her left and she saw the orange furry creature that was Daxter.  
  
'This must be right after Daxter showed up. In the game Jak escapes right after, but here, he came to help me first...' she thought, 'I hope this doesn't affect the game in a bad way...' She forced herself, against her body's wishes, to stand.  
  
"Wow, your prison girl is kinda cute, I can see why you want to bring her along." said Daxter when he looked at her. Jak threw him a gentle glare, telling him not to say any of his womanizing lines. Jak turned and paused for a second to make sure that Kaida was following him, then the trio made their way as fast as they could to the exit.  
  
Kaida, having played this part of the game many times, knew the way out by heart, not that there was many other ways to go. As they ran she felt her body starting to ache more and more, and she knew that her recent torture was taking its toll on her. Even Jak, who'd had no problems in the game, seemed to be dogging a bit. A quick glance in the right room provided them with the precursor orb that can be found in the game. They continued with little difficulty. Kaida noticed that, although it was more difficult to escape in real life, it was still basically like the game despite her presence.  
  
"Prisoner escape in progress." came the calm mechanical voice over the loudspeaker. When they reached the room with the platforms to jump up, Kaida want sure that she would make it. She watched Jak span the distance with ease, as he should, but it seemed farther then it had when Jak had jumped it.  
  
"Come on Kaida, we have to go.!" Jak yelled to her when he noticed that she had lagged behind. She looked at him with uncertainty on her face.  
  
She took a deep breath thinking; 'Well, if I don't make it at least I wont be holding Jak back anymore.' after another deep breath she took the leap, finding, to her surprise that she had easily jumped the gap and nearly over jumped it. With new found confidence she took the second jump with no reservation and caught up with Jak. He gave her an approving look before they started off again.  
  
"You are in a restricted sector. This sector in on high alert." came the computer voice again. Kaida swallowed, knowing that the fighting part came next. She glanced quickly at Jak, almost envying his confidence spawned from knowing how to fight, and not knowing about the guards ahead.  
  
"Surrender yourself!" came the voices of the guards as they rounded the corner. She scowled and muttered sarcastically under her breath;  
  
"Oh yeah, we just broke out of prison, but because you asked we'll surrender right away."  
  
"You are under arrest!" came the voice of the other guard. But before they even had a chance to do anything Jak had dispatched them with a few well placed kicks. She began to lengthen her stride as she anticipated the next obstacle. The part where the guards would shoot at you from under you was fairly easy. As long as you kept running you would have no problems getting through the room. She took a deep breath, for what seemed like the tenth time that day, and ran as fast as she could with Jak across the floor as shots whizzed by their heads. With her upgraded ears she could hear the shots passing by, close to her head.  
  
Upon reaching the end of the long room, they broke the grate in the floor and finished the run to the window, and freedom. Without hesitation they both took the jump out of the second story window, landing themselves on the edge of the slums.  
  
sorry for the delay. I had some computer problems. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I was trying to make it a little longer then normal. I think I succeeded. Anyways.... I am almost finished with the game now so I will finally be ready for Jak III. I almost cant wait for it to come out. Any who... I'll get back to typing. Hope to update soon! Read and Review as always! 


	6. Kor

Upon reaching the end of the long room, they broke the grate in the floor and finished the run to the window, and freedom. Without hesitation they both took the jump out of the second story window, landing themselves on the edge of the slums.

(This is a line....it's a secret line)

"We're free!" cried Daxter once they had landed, "Nice to breathe some fresh air, eh Jak?" Jak nodded. "Don't worry; we'll get that Baron Praxis." Jak glanced at Kaida to make sure that she was ok, once he was sure that she was, they walked out of the dead-end and into the street. They looked around, at the long roads, the sky, the buildings.

Kaida swallowed as she walked and looked around. She knew that the city was big from the game, but actually standing here, and walking in it... it was just so much bigger than she had recognized it as. It was exactly the way the game had showed, yet at the same time, standing there gave an angle that you never could have had by playing the game. The whir of the zoomers alone were enough to put her on edge. They were so close to her head, she had never noticed exactly how close they were to the ground. Kaida was so busy looking at the city in such a new way, she failed to remember that Kor would be showing up in, 5, 4, 3, 2...

"Hello strangers," the old man came up to the trio, followed by the kid. "My name is Kor. May I help..." Jak quickly interrupted the man forced him backwards by intimidation and shoving.

"You look like a reasonably smart man, I want information. Where the hell am I?!" he demanded in a gruff tone. Kor brushed himself off once Jak had finished talking.

"Well, my angry young friend, you are a 'guest' of his 'majesty' Baron Praxis, the 'ruler' of 'glorious' Haven city." As Kor spoke the child ran and hid behind him, and Kor gestured to the city with distaste.

"I was just a guest in the good baron's prison." Jak said with equal distaste.

"Inside a cell or inside the city, walls surround us both. We are all his prisoners." Kor turns to look over his shoulder, as if sensing something and his eyes widen slightly as he sees a group of guards come towards them.

"Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time... I'd move along if I were you." He warns Jak. The guards come closer, then stop and the one in front speaks.

"By order of his eminence, the grand protector of Haven city, Baron Praxis, every one in this sector is hereby under arrest. For suspicion of harboring underground fugitives." he states in a loud voice. "Surrender and die."

At the last comment Daxter steps closer to the guard who spoke, "Ahhh, excuse me sir, don't you mean surrender, OR DIE?!" Kor shakes his head and steps backward, behind Jak.

"Not in this city. Protect us from these guards and I'll introduce you to someone who can help you." Jak turns back to the guard, and Kaida knew that his mind was already made up. He charged at the guards, who wasted no time in pulling their weapons on him, and began to knock them down one by one.

Kaida figured, that since Jak broke her out of prison, she should at least make herself useful. She turned as well, and began to try her hand at beating up the guards. Kaida tried not to show her surprise as she found that her strength had indeed improved significantly. When she had first arrived in this world, it had taken all of her strength to fight only one guard, but now she found herself easily knocking down several guards one after another. Again, she found herself too immersed in her own amazement to remember what was coming next.

She was stopped dead when she felt it. It was energy coursing thought the air. She suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time. The energy only existed for a moment, but it gave her goose bumps. She turned, too slowly for her own liking to see Dark Jak. Kaida felt her stomach flip flop, and she had to fight the desire to run. She unconsciously took a step backward and froze as the newly transformed Dark Jak began to slash the remaining guards to oblivion.

Once they had all been destroyed Dark Jak morphed back into himself. He held his head and panted. Kaida tried to will her body to move but it was still frozen. Daxter came up to Jak with a crazy smile on his face.

"That was cool! Do it again!"

"Something's happening to me..." he panted, staring at his hands. "Something he did... I cant... control it." Kaida finally forced her body to move again, and hurried over to Jak.

"Very impressive." muttered Kor. Daxter still looked at Jak with a worried look, as did Kaida.

"Ehh, you ok Jak?" Asked Daxter.

"What you just did was very brave." announced Kor. "This child is important." he added, motioning to the kid at his feet.

"This kid? He looks kinda scruffy." said Dax.

"You are in a restricted zone. Move along." demanded a guard in a zoomer.

"Thank you for your help, but I must get this boy to safety."

"Hey!" cried Dax, " What about us?"

"There is and underground group waging war against Baron Praxis." he spoke over his shoulder. "Its leader, the Shadow, could use fighters like you. Go to the slums, find the dead end alley near the city wall. Ask for Torn. He can help you." With that, Kor turned fully around and hurried off with the kid.

Kaida looked out into the city. It hadn't been hard to find Torn when she had played the game, since there was a directional map in the lower right corner. But now, it would be very easy to get lost. She jumped slightly as Jak tapped her shoulder.

"You ok?" asked Jak. She gave him a small smile and nodded. He smiled back and started walking into the slums. Sure, Kaida would probably have mildly bruised knuckles in the morning, but other then that, and a small twinge in her side, she was fine. As they walked they looked around at the people, who seemed not to notice the orange ottsel or the girl dressed in odd clothes.

As Kaida walked, she couldn't help but keep glancing up at the zoomers over head. They still made her nervous at how close they seemed. It seemed to take hours to cross the slums, to get to the city wall. Kaida was rather surprised as she found herself recognizing things in the city as they went along. Jak, however looked just as confused as he had been when he had first came out of the prison, though he was hiding it well. Kaida looked to her right and stopped dead, and Jak followed suit.

"What's up?" he asked, and she pointed down the street. She had recognized it as soon as she had looked at it. It was the L shaped dead end that had the hideout at the end. Jak glanced at her.

"You sure this is it?" She nodded and started to walk down the street. Jak shrugged at Dax and followed her around the corner.

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Ah yes, another chapter down! Sorry it took so long. I have school and it takes time to get these dialogues. Plus the frickin' wont load on my comp so i had to put this into the preview area and copy and paste it into the box, so if there are any mistakes let me know and i'll fix them. Thank you for waiting. Please rearview! puppy dog eyes pweese?


	7. Torn

"You sure this is it?" She nodded and started to walk down the street. Jak shrugged at Dax and followed her around the corner.

----(line)-----(line)------

The trio walked around the corner, and sure enough, there was Tess and Torn. Though of course Jak knew neither of their names. Kaida paused and waited for Jak to become level with her, but before either could say anything, the blonde Tess stepped forward giving a glare and a snarl at Jak like an attack dog would. Not to say Torn was any less dog-like in his next actions either, glaring and sizing the trio up like a pit bull...

"Were looking for a guy named Torn. Kor sent us." Jak began, looking first at Tess, then to Torn who came _way _too close for personal space, looking down on and glaring at Jak.

"Uh... are you...Torn?" Torn's 'guard dog' glare and closeness caused Jak to put large spaces in his sentence, not that Kaida blamed him. She had though he was bad watching on the game, but up close in real life... he was very intimidating. There was a tense pause and Daxter leaned over Jak's shoulder.

"Maybe he's a mute... like you used to be." Torn chose that next moment to finally speak up.

"New faces make me nervous." he backed off Jak, giving him back his space. "The word is your out to join the fight for the city. You know, picking the wrong side could be... unhealthy." Torn took a pause, as if to search for the right word, but they all knew it was just meant to be intimidating. Plus Kaida knew what Jak's next statement would be without a doubt.

"We want to see the shadow." Jak stated, his rough gusto back. Torn laughed at his statement and gave Jak a cynical smirk.

"Not likely. If you want to join something, why don't you two and your pet go join the circus." he turned slightly as if he was going to turn them away, again Kaida knew he wasn't done.

"Unless you've got the fur to take on a really tough task." he pulled out his dagger, again for intimidation purposes. "Steal the baron's banner from the top of the ruined tower and bring it back to me. Then maybe we'll talk." he tossed his dagger in the air and caught it. Kaida looked at Jak, who nodded and they turned and walked away.

As they walked away Kaida heard Torn and Tess let out quiet snickers. Obviously they didn't think that they would get the banner, and if Kaida didn't know what would happen later in the game, she would have been very pissed, but at the moment she knew that Torn would be a bastard for a while. They walked out of the alley and headed for the way to dead town, Kaida giving subtle hints to make their trek shorter.

"Man, that guy is a jerk." said Daxter once they were out of earshot.

"Seems like most everyone here is." Jak hissed in response. Kaida remained impassive. Again, she knew that eventually these people would turn out to be good allies. They rounded a corner and suddenly Kaida let out a small yelp and hissed in pain.

"What's the matter?" asked Jak, stopping. Kaida lifted up her right foot and hopped over to lean against a building, she then proceed to lift her foot up higher in her hands, revealing a bloody mess on her sole. Kaida carefully picked out of her food a large piece of sharp glass, hissing as the pain increased. "Ouch, bet that feels good." Daxter commented from Jak's shoulder. Kaida ripped off a strip from the bottom her shirt and used it to bandage her foot.

"Sorry, I forgot you didn't have shoes." Jak apologized and reached into his pocket and pulled out some of the strips of cloth he had kept off his old outfit. He had meant them to be used as a bandage if need be, but it would do for this as well.

"Here, until we can get you shoes, this will have to do." he handed her the material. She smiled in thanks and took the cloth, wrapping it around her foot and tying it tightly. She did the same with the other foot and carefully put weight on her right foot then stepped forward to show that she was ready to go again. Jak nodded with a small smile and they continued. They walked through the lock door to dead town and stood outside. Jak looked around the area, taking it in, and when he spotted the flag he began to look for a way up.

Kaida noticed the weird green frog type creatures and tapped Jak on the shoulder, pointing to them. Jak quickly knocked them senseless and began to look for a way to get over to the ruined tower. The shortest way would be to wade though the water, he decided and took a step, he was about to walk into the water, when Kaida hastily grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. He looked at her with a surprised and questioning look.

"Don't touch." she said.

"What?" said Daxter. "That water looks fine. A little murky and disgusting, but fine." Kaida gave him a sharp look.

"Wanna test it?" Daxter swallowed and shook his head.

"I don't know. But if you're sure..." he turned, seeing some planks of wood floating in the water. He quickly hopped from one to the next, noting that they sank if he stood on them for too long. On the second he stayed just a moment too long and as the water touched his boot, he felt a slight sharp burn.

'Hey, she was right!' he thought as he landed on the land. 'Glad I listened to her.' Kaida easily hopped across the debris on her toes and landed waiting for Jak to continue. They headed on to the larger plot of land, that contained the larger frog/lizard creatures, these being harder to destroy with their dangerous tongues. Kaida figured that she may as well start getting used to fighting here and took on one of the monsters as Jak took on the other, and soon the animals were gone.

They hopped up on the wall, walking along the narrow path. Kaida glanced down, seeing the glint of the precursor orb she knew was hidden down there, and hopped quickly down and snatched up the item. She jumped back up to Jak and gave him the orb. Once he put it into his pack, they continued to run along the wall. When they came to the broader platform, Jak quickly knocked all the little green creatures off, and continued on, jumping onto the various broken steps, up the tower. Kaida swallowed and hopped up after him.

"Careful!" she yelled out.

"What?" Jak paused for a second. A second too long, the block of cement under him crumbled and collapsed out under him. His face was full of surprise for a second, before he could react.

"Jump!" she yelled at him before he fell too far. He jumped up and onto the next landing, Kaida quickly stepped on a small fragment still attached to the wall and hopped up next to him. Jak was panting slightly from the sheer surprise.

"Thanks." he said sincerely as he caught his breath and continued to the next set of steps. "Will these collapse too, you think?" he asked Kaida, and she nodded. He looked back at them, then turned to her again.

"You go first, you're lighter then me, you probably wont make the blocks fall." Kaida wasn't sure, but she consented and looked for the spot that would be least likely to collapse. She jumped up the stair, landing as close to the wall as she could, running on her toes. Jak quickly followed, the stairs collapsing behind him.

They jumped another few steps, and found a bar sticking out of the wall. Kaida sighed, this was another part that she had been dreading. She was anxious to find out about her new abilities but she wasn't exactly confident about doing everything. Jak swung on the bar and landed on the other side. Well, this was a bridge she would have to cross. She jumped up and swung around on the bar and landed with ease on the other side. Kaida hid her surprise and delight in being able to pretty much keep up with Jak.

Finally, they were at the top. Jak stepped forward and pulled the flag from its place, with a satisfied look on his face. Kaida was about to step forward too when she remembered something. There was a cracking noise heard and the ground gave way beneath Jak and Daxter. They fell, landing on various things, like chains and ropes, and landed in front of Torn with the flag. Kaida quickly found a way down that didn't involve dropping straight down.

"Yeah, I guess you guys are in." Torn said, with clear amazement in his voice, and a slight smirk/smile on his face. Kaida smiled at Jak, and he grinned back. Once they had made it back to the alley, they stepped up to the large wall, which slid aside revealing a small door. They walked down the narrow passage way and into the room at the end.

"Woah." said Daxter loudly. " being a BIG hero, sure makes ya thirsty." Torn looks at Daxter with a half snarl and a look of pure contempt as he opens the leaver for water. Instead a large amount of mud pours out and into Daxter's waiting mouth. He quickly tries to spit out the nasty mess and wipes it off himself.

"The baron turned off all the water to the slums. He is willing to sacrifice innocent lives just to destroy the underground." said Torn, looking rather tired. "I have seen his evil before, while serving in the Krimson guard. That's why I quit."

"You were a Krimson guard?" Jak said with much surprise. "Well, that explains your charming sense of humor." he added with much rude sarcasm. Torn continued as if he hadn't heard the last comment.

"My friend in the guard tells me that the valve to turn the water back on is located outside the city at the pumping station."

"Out side the city? What about the security walls?" Jak questioned seriously

"What about the metal. heads?" exclaimed Daxter. "It aint no petting zoo out there. Peeps be getting deep sixed!." Again, Torn continued as if he hadn't heard the comment.

"Find the large drain pipe in the north wall, it'll take you to the pumping station. Get to the main valve and open it. _If_ you survive, the slums will be indebted to you. If not," added Torn "maybe we will have a touching moment of silence in your honor."

"I'd like to give him a 'touching moment.'" growled Daxter. Kaida couldn't help but roll her eyes at the insults the trio were giving.

"Oh yeah, and you might want to get princes here, some new clothes. If you want there are some in the back." Commented Torn. He stuck his thumb out, motioning to the back room. Kaida glared at the name, but went into the back anyway.

There was a closet and a few broken drawers with clothes in them. She pulled a pair of leather pants out of the drawers and pulled them on. Like all the girls clothes in this place seemed to be, they were nearly low-rise pants. She sneered at the style but continued picking out clothes. She found a short blue tank top, but as she pulled it out she found that it had sleeves barely attached, as part of the style. She pulled it over her head, finding that it also showed off a good part of her stomach. The tank top straps came over her shoulders like normal, and the long sleeves covered most of her arms, though the shirt still left most of her shoulders and collar open. She pulled on a belt with a holster and a small pouch on it.

Out of the closet she pulled a pair of boots and laced them up on her feet, leaving the material that Jak had given her on. She found a small bowl of water and wet her hand and slicked her hair with it, then pulled it back into a high ponytail, and tied it up. She quickly walked back out into the room where Jak was waiting. She smiled at Jak and gave a look to Daxter, daring him to make a comment, and wisely, he didn't. She didn't even bother to thank Torn because she knew that he didn't care.

After exiting the hideout they headed to the north end, which Kaida also knew as the water slums.

'I wonder what Rika would think about my outfit.' Kaida mused as she ran. 'She would probably think that I had gone crazy... that or she would think that it was cool.'

"Hey," she was brought out of her thoughts as Jak stopped and spoke. "How about we take one of these zoomers?" Before waiting for a real reply he jumped up and knocked the rider off a fast looking zoomer. He brought it down a level and let Kaida hop on. He raised it back up to the usual level and shot off, causing Kaida to hang on for her life. She knew that Jak was a good driver, heck he drove the first zoomer ever, but she couldn't help feeling scared. In her world, she had only just learned how to ride a motorcycle properly!

As they neared their destination they slowed down and jumped off, while the zoomer was still floating along. After passing though the pipe, they made it out into the open area.

"Well, this looks pleasant." commented Jak.

'Well,' thought Kaida as they walked, 'now is as good a time as any to get in some fight practice. Or to learn period!' (A.N. I am too lazy to write out this whole escapade) They managed with ease to make it to the valve. Kaida quickly over came her fear of fighting the metal heads and helped Jak collect the skull gems left behind. Daxter hopped off Jaks shoulder and went up to the pipe.

"Ah, the valve. Allow me." Dax desperately tries to turn the valve to no avail, until Jak, watching with amusement, bangs the pipe and the valve swings open. Unfortunately Daxter is sucked up into the pipe.

"Jak, help… Jak…help. Jak… please … help…" his voice is carried by the pipe. Jak turns another valve and Daxter is spit out of another pipe.

"Don't say it." he stands up indignantly. "Don't even chuckle! Next time, YOU turn the valve." Kaida covered her face with an arm to keep her snickering to a minimum. She had laughed allowed when she had played the game, but up close it was just so much better. As they walked back to the hideout, Kaida had a smile firmly placed on her face, at Daxter's expense. Jak had to constantly check himself, to keep from smiling at Daxters little 'ride', and eventually he too cracked a smile. Daxter on the other hand had a frown all the way back.

By the time they made it to the ally, a quick glance at they sky told them that night was coming on. They entered the small hallway and went down to the room, where they found Torn waiting.

"The slums water is back on." Torn said with relish, "I'd love to see the heads roll when the Baron finds out!" he had a grin of satisfaction.

"Yeah, I am sure he is losing lots of sleep of this 'arm pit' of the city. We've done what you asked. Now when do we see the shadow?" Jak demanded. Kaida had the urge to shake her head in exhaustion of the frivolous demands. She knew it would take a while for them to get around to seeing 'The Shadow'.

"When I say so, IF I say so. But before I even think about it, I want you to take care of an ammo dump we've ID'd in the fortress." Torn explained.

"Yeah yeah, I'll get to that tomorrow. Until then, how about you give us a place to sleep, then we'll help." Jak said, brushing off Torn. Torn gave him a slight sneer at his disregard for Torn's authority.

"Fine. You've earned your keep for the night, and I gotta get my rest too." Torn mumbled. "The bunks out here are meant for walk in's who need them. The ones for more, permanent members are in the back. There is also a shower there, but don't take too long."

"Right." muttered Jak and walked past Torn to the back. Kaida followed after, looking around at the dim place. As they headed farther back, the lighting suddenly got dimmer over the bunks, obviously for those sleeping. They noted that there were a few bodies sleeping in the bunks.

"I'm gonna take a shower before bed." Jak spoke up, and snatched up a few towels, ditching Daxter on a bunk. Kaida nodded and he turned and went off to find the showers. Shortly after Kaida heard the distinct sound of water running. She sat down the bed under Daxter's bunk. She heard the squeak as Daxter flopped down.

'I should wait for Jak to be done and take a shower...' she thought, 'but I am kinda tired... I need to stay awake. It'll be my first real shower in a while.' She leaned over, deciding to rest for a bit but before she knew it, she was asleep, and out like a light. Jak came back into the room a little later, his hair slicked back with water, and he was still slightly damp, carrying his shirt, pack, and boots under one arm. He found Daxter laying with his feet hanging off the bed, and glanced down to see Kaida asleep as well. He smiled slightly, and went over and pushed Kaida's feet onto the bed.

'Geez she must be tired.' he thought. 'Don't really blame her though. Come to think of it, I am pretty tired to. All things considered it was a really full day.' He yawned and shoved Daxter over as he climbed up onto the bunk.

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Yo, hey. Finaly another chapter done!! And it is all thanks to criticfanatic for helping me to get this chapter up! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! Please Reaview!


	8. Sleepless

'Geez she must be tired.' he thought. 'Don't really blame her though. Come to think of it, I am pretty tired to. All things considered it was a really full day.' He yawned and shoved Daxter over as he climbed up onto the bunk.

--------------

( _stuff _dreams

"stuff" talking out loud

'stuff' thinking/talking mentaly)

Every thing was quiet in the bunks of the hideout. Everyone but the guards were sleeping. Even Torn had eventually decided to call it a night. The only sounds to be heard were the occasional snores of the various occupants, and the creak of the old beds as the sleepers moved. Kaida, however, was not sleeping peacefully, though she seemed to sense the quiet and kept as such. Her face was set in a deep frown and she was curled up under her blanket. She had hoped that once she escaped her nightmares would stop, but things just didn't turn out like she wanted them to

_Kaida walked down the sunny street. There was no one else there, but she hardly seemed to notice. The warm sun was all she cared about. It had seemed like forever since she had walked in the sun. Gradually, as the sun lost her attention she began looking around. It was a street she had been down many times, but never actually stepped on. She looked around, her pace quickened. Everything seemed to familiar...to familiar._

_'This place shouldn't be this real' she thought. 'This should be a place I visit only when I am daydreaming, or playing.' she sounded almost frantic in her mind now. She picked up the pace to a run, her head whipping from side to side as she runs._

_'No, this cant be right!' She yelled mentally. She ran and ran, but no matter how far she ran it was the same. The streets from a place that should not exist. She ran though the sunshine into a more open area. In the shadow of a pillar she tripped and was sent in a skid across the ground. She pushed her achy body onto her hands and knees. A few drops of blood fell to the ground, staining it red._

_"Kaida..." came a whisper. Kaida jumped to her feet, looking frantically around for the voice._

_"Kaida..." that voice.... it sounded so familiar._

_"W-who are you?" she demanded in a cracking voice._

_"You know me." responded the voice. Kaida backed up to the pillar, and continued searching for the voice._

_"N-no. No I don't know you.... I have never heard you before." The voice gave a bone chilling chuckle._

_"Don't kid yourself. You know me. I talk to you every night. I am with you all the time." Kaida tried to swallow but found her throat blocked._

_"N-no! I s-swear I don't know you! I have never spoken to you before!" she yelled out. Her frantic searching showed her nothing. She was alone in the city, it seemed. The voice spoke softly in her ear._

_"Oh, but we have spoken many times, every night for a long time. I know that you are lying to yourself. I..."_

_"NO!" Kaida interrupted the voice and bolted. She ran until she had run into the dead end of a dirty, uneven street, and was forced to grind to a halt. She listened hard, but only picked up the sound of her ragged panting.. She heard nothing, but her whole body continued to prickle in fear. Suddenly, she felt a hand land on her shoulder._

_She opened her mouth, but she could make no sound. The touch of the hand was cold as death and hot as fire at the same time. Kaida felt her breath trap in her lungs and time seemed to slow for a moment._

_"Want to try and run again? You cant escape me." the voice whispered in her ear. Horse and sinister. Kaida whipped around and saw no one. She spun on her heel looking around. She saw no one._

_'There is no one here...' she though, 'no body.... but....me...' It seemed almost like a realization. There was the touch of that hand again. On both of her shoulders. Heavy this time, and breath, sharp on the back of her neck._

_"So, you realize it now, don't you?" came the soft evil voice in her ear. The hands crept around, down her arms, until her arms were pinned at her sides._

_"N-no...please no..." Kaida begged in a quiet voice before ripping out of the hot-cold grasp and turning around. There was everything she feared would be there. It was Kaida over again, only not. It couldn't be Kaida, it couldn't even be human or whatever. The 'creature' had the skin the color of a long dead corpse, white and grey and haunting. Black eyes of void darkness, eating up the light. Silver hair tipped with black and nails. - no claws, that seemed like knives. The creature smirked as Kaida took it all in. It was taller then Kaida, and used that to its advantage. It stepped forward, as if about to kill it's prey._

_"Oh yes." it hissed. The voice was so like Kaida's, but laced with poison. "I am you. I am everything you kept locked up. I am every bit of darkness in your soul that you collected over your life. And it was in prison that the darkness was able to take shape." Kaida's knees gave out and she began to drop to the ground, but the creature reached out and wrapped its fingers around Kaida's throat, holding her body up._

_"I have been kept locked up inside you for years. I have been strained off your soul, and given a body..." the creature lifted her up by her throat, and Kaida felt the lack of air. "Your body has the power to harbor me..." Everything seemed to be swimming before Kaida's eyes as she gasped for air._

_"NOW LET ME OUT!" Everything flashed and went blank_

Kaida bolted upright, hands at her throat. She gaped for air and barely managed to swallow a scream that had threatened to escape. Her wide eyes stared at nothing in the dark, and sweat trickled down her face. She blinked and ran her fingers through her hair, which stuck up from sweat. Kaida looked down at her hands, which shook no matter how hard she tried to calm them.

Over her whole body, her skin prickled and she felt as if electricity were dancing across her surface. She slowly lied back down, trying to calm herself and fall asleep. But all she could do was subdue her shaking and stare at the bunk above her. After a few minutes of lying and staring at nothing, she couldn't take it any longer.

"Damn it. I cant sleep now." Kaida muttered to herself. She rolled over and climbed out of bed, carful not to make any noise. She didn't bother to put on her shoes, and just stood up and walked quietly out of the room. She wandered aimlessly around the hide-out. Not really searching for anything, not really looking at anything. With her quietest foot steps, Kaida made her way to the front, to Torn's desk. As usual, it was plastered with maps, pictures of places, pictures of Errol and the baron with notes and mustaches drawn on them.

She looked them over, but not really taking in the information on them. It was all so real, but her mind, she supposed, was still stuck in shock, and refused to accept that she was actually here in person. She looked down and spotted a small map of the city, apparently un-written on. She looked around. She knew it wouldn't be right for her to steal from the desk of Torn, but she had a vague feeling that this map would come in handy at some point.

She made sure no one was there, though everyone was asleep, and shoved the paper into her pocket for later. She continued to wander for sometime. Every time she felt a little tired and walked back towards the bunks, she would suddenly become awake again. When she walked closer to the front room, she could almost hear the hum of the zoomers outside.

By a certain point, Kaida was almost begging to sleep, but she still continued to wander around and around. Jak groaned in his sleep, and rolled over, barely disturbing the orange ottsel sleeping on his stomach. It seemed that tonight was just not the night for pleasant sleep.

_Jak was back. Back in his old town of Sandover. Everything was quiet and simple. He was back the way he used to be. His blonde hair was short and spiked up the way it used to be. He wasn't wearing any heavy boots, or carrying some lethal gun. It was just him in his blue clothes and half bare feet. It was him clean. He was pure and innocent._

_It was before Haven City, before Baron Praxis, before anything could hurt him. He smiled and looked up into the sunshine. He was standing on a cliff, overlooking the sea. He shut his eyes and breathed in the calm air. As he stood, he felt a presence move next to him. He turned to greet his friend Daxter, but as he opened his eyes he was filled with shock and fear._

_Next to him, wasn't a person, in fact he wasn't sure if it was a thing either. It was a mass of darkness. Energies circulated around it, and caught everything in its space. Even the grass wilted beneath it. Strangely enough, at the same time as he feared it, he wanted to find out about it. Something about the strange mass of dark was simply... interesting. He dared to step closer but before he could do anything, a scream came from behind him._

_He whirled around, and his blue eyes widened. In the space of those few moments, the calm village behind him, had be set fire, and destroyed. He looked furiously for the culprit, and found a large hideous creature. Its many legs carried it over the ground while its red eyes surveyed hungrily for something new to destroy. Jak lunged forward, in a rage, and attacked the beast, but he was easily thrown back to where he had been standing. He panted, and tried to push himself up, but a sharp pain in his torso prevented him from succeeding. He glared at the monster, then took notice that the dark mass had never moved._

_He stared up at it, wonderingly. Then, he perceived it turn, and saw that it did have eyes. Two bright, cold eyes of steel stared back at him. The mass seemed to take a shape. It looked like the shadow of a person standing upright. There was a long moment as Jak and the thing stared at one-another. But they were brought out of their trance by the scream of another voice, as the monster continued to destroy the village._

_The shadow reached out a hand to Jak, and Jak paused, uncertainly. Another scream from the village removed all doubt from Jak's mind. He reached out and touched the shadow. It was amazing: suddenly Jak felt power and energy fill him. He felt as if he could do anything, and the pains in his body quickly disappeared. He jumped to his feet and ran after the monster. It was over shortly. The monster was gone, defeated at Jak's hands. He looked down at the village, pride at his victory filling him._

_But as quickly as it came, it drained from his body. His few friends, his small family... they were all gone. And as it sunk in, his entire body filled with pain. Not just emotional pain, but his entire body felt as if it was on fire. He collapsed to the ground and hugged himself. As he remained there in pain, no one came to him. No one helped him. And at first he was filled with anger. No one cared, after what he had done for them. His anger soon turned on himself. It was his fault, if he had been faster it wouldn't have happened. If he had noticed, if he hadn't been daydreaming... they wouldn't be gone._

_And he hated the monster for destroying everything, and he hated who, or whatever sent the monster here. Jak remained still, allowing the hate, and anger, and all those negative emotions to build up inside of himself, until he was his very aura was filled with pain and emotion._

_Again, he felt a presence next to him, and he had barely lifted his head, before he found himself being roughly yanked to his feet. It was the dark creature. When Jak was on his feet the creature still did not let go, instead it seemed to be absorbing something from Jak. His angry aura seemed to be inhaled by the thing. The longer it absorbed, the more it took shape, until it was no longer black, but pale grey. Jak gasped as her recognized it. It was him. It was all his darkness and anger, given form by the dark eco. His Dark Jak._

_It continued to feed off his aura, and its darkness spread. The grass under its feet wilted, and it spread outward, like a disease, killing all the plants in its wake. But the aura continued to spread, it made its way into the ruined town and to Jak's horror it began to seek out those who were wounded in the rubble. He watched helplessly as the aura slowly sucked the people dry of their energy and then left them dead._

_"Stop!" Jak yelled(remember, this is Jak back in 'Jak and Daxter' so his voice is higher), "Stop or I'll make you stop!" The creature snickered evilly._

_"You cant stop me any more then you can stop yourself." it hissed in its grated voice._

_"Yes, I can and I will!" Jak yelled again. And again the creature snickered._

_"Go ahead then, stop it. You're the one doing it after all." Jak froze._

_"What are you talking about?" he demanded._

_"Just what I said. You are the one who is causing this. What do you think I am? Where do you think I came from. I am you. All you." Jak shook his head violently._

_"No, I would never do something like this!"_

_"Yes, but I am all of your darkness. Every dark part of your soul, every angry thought or intention you have ever had. That is me. So you see, it is all your fault." Jak remained silent for a moment, before anger built up in his eyes._

_"Then I'll get rid of you!" Jak forced himself out of the grip of the creature and backed away._

_"You cant." the creature told him. The ground shook and the cliffs above cracked, sending a large rock down upon the two. Jak knew he couldn't run, and braced himself for the rock, he put his hands up, as if he could catch the rock. To his amazement he did. His body was strained under the rock, and he looked around for the creature that was here a moment ago._

_"You need me." Jak felt his knees shaking under the weight. "I am your strength." the thing whispered. The voice was all around him, and inside of him at the same time. "I make you what you are." Jak collapsed to his knees, still trying to hold up the rock. "You cannot escape me." It was the last thing he heard before everything went black._

Jak sat up in bed, blinking his blue eyes in the dark. He looked over at Daxter, who was sleeping well enough, drooling and muttering every now and then. He sighed and shook his head at his friend. Quietly and carefully, he leaned over the edge of his bunk to see if he had woken up Kaida, but she was gone. He leaned back, and sat up on his bed again, looking up at the ceiling. He wanted to just go back to bed, he figured she went for water or something.

He sighed and laid back down to sleep. He tried to go back to sleep, but for some reason, part of him didn't want to go back to sleep, and he had a feeling it had to do with his dream.

'Is that really true?' he wondered. 'Am I really nothing without that dark eco?' he shook his head. 'No, that cant be right. I did great things back in my world, why wouldn't I be able to do things here?' He nodded, assuring himself. 'Still...' he shook his head again, 'no. I would never hurt anyone. Why would that dark eco make it different? Why am I taking all this so seriously? It was just a dream.' Huffed, and frowned at the ceiling.

"I need to take a walk." he muttered quietly to himself. Jak hopped off the bunk to the floor, careful not to wake up Daxter, and walks out into the rest of the hideout, without shoes. As he looked around the bunk area he was surprised at how many people were actually here. Granted, that it was only about 12 or 13, that was still a lot to have one place. Not to mention that Torn was here, and he was the leader of it all. Jak wandered aimlessly through the place, not looking for anything in particular.

Unconsciously he made his way towards the only sound he could here, besides snoring, the hum of zoomers outside. The sound lead him to the front room, full of maps. Jak glanced nonchalantly around the room, noting the papers on the desk, and the few people sleeping in the outer bunks. He headed up the stairs to the door and stepped out into the cool night air. The air was cool, and soft as it had been back in his world, but instead of being fresh and earthy, it was filled with the harsh scent of the dirty slums and she acrid touch of exhaust smoke.

It wasn't as nice as back home, but it was better then the air that sat stagnant in the prison. He looked up at the moon and that one bright star in the smoggy sky. He sighed and headed back into the hide-out. He walked distractedly back through the hideout, rather directionless as he traveled. He turned a corner and THUD. In his lack of concentration he had walked into someone. He tried to focus through the darkness, and saw the faint silhouette of someone, now leaning against the wall.

"Sorry." he muttered, "I wasn't paying attention." He was about to continue walking when the figure spoke.

"Jak?" came a groggy and hoarse voice. He stopped and stepped closer to the figure to try and see then better.

"Kaida? That you?" he questioned quietly. Upon closer inspection, he realized that it was. Her face was empty and her eyes were rather unfocused, she looked as if she hadnt slept all night. She nodded at his question.

"Cant sleep." she said, slightly slurred in her exhaustion.

"Yeah, me neither." Jak muttered. "I noticed you were gone, but I thought you had just gone to get a drink or something." Kaida shook her head, and ran her fingers through her hair, unfocused like. "What were you doing?" Jak asked.

"Walking, looking at maps." she responded, pointing at the stack of maps around the corner on Torn's desk. Jak turned, looking at the maps.

"Some of these don't look like the city, I wonder what they show." he muttered, mostly to himself. He heard a sliding noise and looked back around to find that Kaida had finally passed out, and slid down the wall onto the floor. He sighed.

"Well, she looked about to pass out." he said to himself. He walked over, and picked her up and carried her, trying to remember in his sleepy mind, where their bunks were. Once there, he put her on her bed, and silently climbed back up into his own. For the most part, the rest of the night was spent as it should, a sleep.

The sky above the city began to lighten as the sun prepared to rise. Few were awake at this time, and none who were paid any attention to the change. To them, it was all just another day. But one underground, in the hideout, was happy to awaken early just for a shot to see what she hadn't in such a long time

Kaida shifted and swung herself out of her bed. She looked around the hideout bunk area. A few of the bodies that had been asleep last night were absent, probably back to their jobs. Kaida thought for a moment about putting on her boots, but decided against it and got up. She threw a quick glance up at the bunk above her were Jak was asleep, then hurried out and up the stairs to the door of the hideout. In her haste she didn't even notice the tired looking Torn looking disinterestedly at the papers on his desk in the front room.

Jak shifted, letting out a small grunt as a faint noise pulled him out of his sleep. He cracked one blue eye, noting that Daxter was sleeping curled up that the foot of his bed like an orange cat. Daxter was muttering weird things in his sleep, but Jak didn't think that was what had woken him up, since Dax had been doing that all night. He glanced over the edge of the bunk and saw Kaida's boots still sitting there, so he figured she couldn't have be up, so he rolled over and was going to try to go back to sleep.

He sighed and rolled back over to look at the bed under his, he had remembered the last time she went out, she had left her shoes too. Upon seeing the empty sheet, he rolled off the bed, landing on his feet, and headed off to look around the hideout. When he came to the front room he found the only other awake creature in the place, besides himself and Kaida.

"Hey, Torn, have you seen Kaida?" he asked quietly. Torn didn't bother looking up, he just pointed up the stairs at the exit of the hideout. Jak turned and hurried up the stairs. Once he go out into the open air, he saw Kaida standing at the joint in the alley, leaning up against the wall, looking out into the open slums.

"Hey, what are you doing up here this early?" Jak asked as he walked up to her. Kaida jumped slightly as he spoke, but when she saw who it was she smiled and pointed out to the spot in the sky where she was watching. Jak turned and looked out noting how the sky was lightest there.

"Your waiting for the sunrise?" he asked, standing next to her looking out at the sky as well. Kaida nodded turning back to the sky scene.

"Never used to care." she started, "But not seeing the sun for a year, makes me miss the sun rise I never used to see." She fell silent and they both looked out at the sky as the bright sun sent shocks of light though the sky as it rose. Finally the dawn broke and the light spread across the area. After a few moments of peace, Jak tapped Kaida on the shoulder

"C'mon, we gotta get ready to go on that mission for that guy Torn." Jak spoke up. Kaida nodded and followed him back in, careful not to step on anything that would re-open the wound on her foot. They passed Torn, still at his desk, who didn't seem to notice them until they were almost to the door.

"Hey, you two! You had better get your ass' out here for your 'job'!" Torn shouted when he finally looked up at them. Neither Jak nor Kaida said anything, and Jak just waved his hand over his shoulder in acknowledgment.

Kaida suddenly remembered that she had meant to take a shower last night, and when they got into the back rooms she tapped Jak

"Show me where the shower is please?" she asked. He nodded and smiled,

"Sure. Follow me." Jak turned and walked to the back of the room and pointed to an empty door way. She grinned at him in thanks and went in. She quickly realized that it was a short walk just around the corner to the showers, and it was just a large room with shower heads..(think, public shower at a pool) Kaida swallowed and headed back out.

"Jak," she started timidly, "would you mind, uh...." she couldn't help feeling foolish, but this was just something she couldn't help. "Would you mind waiting outside the door way? Please? Just to make sure that no guys come in?" She finished in a quiet voice. Jak blinked at her for a second then gave a small smile.

"Sure." Kaida grinned like a child, and grabbed a few towels and, after making sure that Jak was waiting at the door, went in to take a quick shower. She quickly undressed, and turned on the water, getting it to the right temperature. She wanted very much to be done soon. Not that she didn't trust Jak, she just didn't want _anyone_ to come in.

Still on the bunk Daxter soon woke, realizing there was no other body keeping him warm. He looked around, confused.

"Jak?" Not seeing him, Daxter jumped off the bed and hurried off to find his buddy.

Jak heard the sound of water pouring on the tile in the shower and leaned up against the wall. He didn't particularly mind standing here. It wasn't like he could go anywhere anyway. He looked down as he heard Daxter jogging up to him.

"Hey Dax. Finally awake now?" Daxter give him a slight glare before responding.

"Yeah yeah. So wha chya doin'? We gotta get out to see that guy Torn, right? Where is that chick., Kaida?" he asked.

"Kaida is taking a shower, and I said that I would watch the door for her so that no one would walk in on her." Jak responded, and crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall.

"I guess I'll watch with you." Daxter says and leans up against the wall as well. After a few minutes Daxter casts a few shifty glances at Jak, and when he is sure Jak isn't paying attention to him, he seeks into the doorway, and down the short hall to the shower area. He carefully peeks his head around the corner to see what he can see. Suddenly a hand reaches down lifting Daxter up by his throat. He was brought to eye level with a wet Kaida, however she was wrapped in a towel.

"You dirty little rat." she hissed at him. She shoves his head under the running shower tap until he is soaked and then threw him out into the hideout room. Dax slid across the floor and into a bunk post. Jak cant help but snicker at Daxter who looks like a drowned rat.

"You should know better." Jak said. Shortly after Kaida walked out, her hair damp, but put up in a pony tail and fully dressed, minus her boots.

"Ready to go see Torn about that ammo dump thing?" Jak asked. Kaida nods and they head out into the front room. After getting their boots, of course.

---------

Hey! Finaly I have the new chapter! I have been kinda preoccupied with playing Jak 3! Its fun fun fun! I am already close to the end, and I just bought the guide for the game so that when I replay it I can do it in a shorter time. If this story goes well I might do one for Jak 3 . For taking such a long time, I am making it a long chapter. Hope you like! Read and review please!


	9. Busy

"You should know better." Jak said. Shortly after Kaida walked out, her hair damp, but put up in a pony tail and fully dressed, minus her boots. 

"Ready to go see Torn about that ammo dump thing?" Jak asked. Kaida nods and they head out into the front room. After getting their boots, of course.

* * *

A few minutes later, Jak sauntered into Torn's office, followed by Kaida. Torn looked up with a frown. 

"So, you finally decided to get your ass' up and out here huh?" Torn asked gruffly. Daxter rolled his eyes, but swallowed a retort, for once, thinking before he spoke. Torn stands and looks at some papers quickly before giving them the low down.

"So, like I said, I want you to take care of an ammo dump we've ID'd in the fortress. Lots of crimson guards, constant patrols." Torn thumps his fist on the table. "WE know it's vulnerable, and the underground needs _YOU _to blow up all the ammo you find inside. Get all of it, and we'll deal a body blow to the Baron." Daxter perks up and gives Torn a serious glare.

"_You're _sending _us_ in tough guy, so what's with this 'we'll deal a body blow' stuff?" Torn again matches Daxter's glare. Kaida watches the exchange and decides that the 'game' of insults and glares that they give one-another is just one of those things that is more fun to watch in real life. Before Torn can respond Jak speaks up with just a tinge of thirst for revenge in his voice.

"That's fine. I want the Baron to know it's _ME _who's hurting him." Torn gives a slight nod of mild acknowledgment, and the trio of Jak, Dax and Kaida turned for the door.

"Hang on a second," Torn's voice stops them and they turn to face him, "you, get going." he points to Jak, "but you, get back here I have a different assignment for you." he looks to Kaida. Kaida glanced quickly, sideways at Jak to see what his reaction was, and stepped back to standing in front of Torn's desk. When she didn't hear Jak move she turned and gave him a smile and a quick thumbs up to say that she would be ok. He gave a small nod to her and exited the hideout. Kaida stood in front of the desk, waiting for Torn to speak. He studied her critically for a moment before speaking.

"Tell me your name, I haven't heard anyone say it, and I have to know." he spoke gruffly and demandingly. Kaida paused, and remained silent for a long moment, she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to speak. She wasn't sure why, but she found her self struggling to call up her voice and the courage to speak, though the desire was definitely there. Torn raised an eyebrow as he studied her face with impatience. When she still didn't speak, he did.

"Come on, I haven't got all day. What are you, mute? I know you're not, so hurry up, this is a simple question. If you don't answer you can go back to the street and stay there." he demanded loudly. She swallowed and forced her will to speak.

"Kaida. My name is Kaida." her voice was a bit scratchy and hoarse, though she didn't know why, as she had been talking to Jak recently. Torn's expression didn't physically change much, however the aura around the two in the room was altered with those few words. Torn didn't radiate relief or happiness by any means, however there seemed to be some slight personal satisfaction, or relief that he didn't have to turn her out of the hideout.

"That's better. Kaida?" he asked as if questioning his pronunciation. She nodded vaguely then he continued. "Right, I have a mission for you. Whatever is wrong with your voice, you had better fix. I want you to go into the water slums, and find an underground member who is waiting with some special information." he flipped through some papers quickly and pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"Here is a map with the safe house marked. Whatever you do, do not let anyone but your self see or get their hands on that map. Rip it up, drown it, eat it; I don't care. That has the location of an important safe house. Ask him for the information, show him the map and tell him that I sent you and show him this," he pulled out his dagger in its sheath and handed it to her. "And that'll prove it. Normally I wouldn't trust a new person with this kind of important mission but I am a little short handed at the moment, so don't mess up." Kaida nods and, after looking the map over quickly, put it safely into the pouch on her belt and turned to leave.

"There is a zoomer out side for you to use." Torn mentions after her. Again Kaida just nodded and hurried out of the hide-out. She stepped quickly from behind the door and into the alley way, hearing the door slide shut behind her. She looked around and sure enough, there was a zoomer waiting for whomever needed the ride.

She swallowed her nervousness and climbed onto the machine. Kaida felt the uncertainty build up again as she got herself situated on the floating craft and looked at the ignition. She very much wanted to learn how to drive this by being instructed, and would rather have ran to her destination instead of using this vehicle, but she knew that would take a good part, if not all, of the day and she wanted to get this mission over with. She wanted to prove that even though she didn't really belong in this world she could be just as good at it as when she had played the game... or fair enough to receive some recognition in any case.

She took a deep breath and pushed the ignition, held the brake and kicked the gas pedal. The engine sputtered, and kicked some smoke like it normally did as the engine turned over, and fired up. It was now hovering slightly higher off the ground and she had to take another deep breath as she flipped the lever on the left handle bar and the zoomer jumped to the second level for driving. She made sure that her feet were firmly in place on the pedals, though she was sightly wary about the driving position of leaning so far forward. She patted the pouch on her belt to make sure the map was still there(as a nervous habit), then pressed the gas and off she went.

At first she went slow, only tapping the gas to keep her speed, being careful about steering too much or too little, however she quickly managed to get the hang of the machine very quickly and no body seemed to notice when she had made mistakes. As long as she didn't hit them they didn't seem to care about anything else, not even the KG. She noticed there seemed to be a sort of assumed flight path that most of the divers followed, and once her confidence was up high enough she found herself moving to fast for the flight traffic. She gassed the zoomer and sped around the others in the line up.

Soon she spotted a traffic jam. It was one of those few places in the slums that was basically a one lane pass, and two citizens had decided to try to make it through at the same time. When she usually played the game she would slam her craft into the jam, thus unblocking it and then she would hop to another zoomer before her fatally damaged one exploded.

However, here, she wasn't sure if she was ready to try that kind of a maneuver, plus she wasn't quite sure how the people would react in real life. She let up on the gas and began to press the other pedal, in order to break, but quickly realized that if she waited, the jam might take hours to fix. Instead she gassed it and flipped the switch on her handle bar and dropped to ground level.

The sudden change at that speed made her stomach jump into her throat, but she kept the speed and once passed the traffic, she brought herself back up to the normal level. Her heart was beating a bit quicker and she had to swallow to allow herself to breathe again. She soon arrived in the water slums. She turned off to the side and floated over the water, close to the wall of a building, covered in its shadow. She pulled the map out of her pocket and looked for her current position on the map. She turned the map over until its paths lined up with the ones she could see. She quickly found her position and the safe house she was supposed to get to. She glanced up and saw a few KG floating around in the midst of the regular citizens. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted the flash of bright red of other guards farther away. The ones she could see seemed to be looking for something and she didn't like it.

Kaida carefully tapped the gas, her hand holding the lever down so the zoomer moved in reverse. Once she was slightly farther away she stuffed the map back into her pouch and dropped to water level. She figured once the guards had their backs to her she could head out again. Some where in the back of her mind a voice was telling her that she was being paranoid, but the stronger voice argued that she really didn't want to mess up this mission and/or get killed inside some video game, even if for now it seemed real. She held her nerve and inconspicuously jumped back up to regular flying level and headed off with the flow of traffic towards her destination. She was tempted several times to pull over and double check her map, but she felt that it might be too risky.

Eventually she came upon the house that she had a feeling was the right one. A quick mental flashback assured her that it was the right one. However she didn't just drop down and hurry in, she parked the zoomer on a dock connected to the pathways and walked non-chalantly towards the building. She quickly rapped on the door and it slid open with a whoosh. She blinked but before she could move a figure appeared in the doorway. He looked like an average guy but his face held a serious, steeled look to it. He was taller then her and obviously older. He had a few tattoos on one ear and on his neck but no where near as many as Torn nor any member of the KG. He had one hand on the door frame and the other at his side, and though Kaida couldn't see a weapon she was sure that he had one somewhere close at hand.

"Can I help you?" his voice was gruff and gritty as if he didn't talk a lot but yelled most often.

"Er..." for what seemed like the millionth time that day she swallowed and willed herself to speak, though her voice was nearly as scratchy as his from lack of use. "Yeah, Torn sent me." She reached into her pouch and swiftly removed the dagger-in-sheath, just long enough for the man to identify it, then returned it safely to its hiding place. The man nodded quickly and stepped back and inside the building. Kaida followed suit and entered the dark/dim building. The metal door slid shut behind her and she had to blink to get her vision used to the darker place.

The lights were all on in the main room and she could tell that more then one person lived here, though they didn't seem too much in the way of cleaning. There was a hallway leading of from this large front room. Many doors lined that hallway, linking to small rooms, some with occupants but most without. The man she had met at the door way had stepped back to a large beaten table, around which sat many mismatched, uncomfortable looking chairs. He studied her with a serious face.

"Who are you? I know your from the Underground, on account of you have Torn's dagger." Now Kaida could hear the city accent leaking into his voice. "But I haven't seen you around before. You new?" Kaida simply nodded in response to the question."Seems kinda strange to me that Torn would send a newbie on a mission like this, but he's the boss, so he knows best. Either way, new or not, you betray us and you'll end up dead."

Kaida swallowed lightly, wishing slightly that he had just left out that last sentence. The man turned around and seemed to be looking for something on the table. She waited quietly, taking in the look of the place, quietly urging the man to find whatever he was looking for soon. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the man turned around with a small slip of paper. He handed it to Kaida and she looked at it. Strangely there were just a set of numbers written on it.

Her eyes glanced up and down the small scrap of paper. None of it seemed to make any sense to her but whatever it was seemed important to the underground so what did it matter if she could understand it or not? She took the paper and slid it into her pouch that also contained her map.

"Take good care of that message! Its more important then your life, so don't lose it or worse, let the KG get their hands on it. And like I said before, you betray us, and you'll end up dead."

"Yes." Kaida managed to croak out to the man, before she turned and exited the hideout. Once out in the fresh air she inhaled deeply, trying to relax the tension she had suppressed in the building. She stood in the sunlight and took one last breath before heading down the boardwalk to her vehicle. Once aboard and again in the air she started off, and quickly noticed the stepped up security in the area.

The place was dotted red, with bulky Krimson Guards both on the ground, and in the air. Kaida's worried thoughts constantly floated back to the pouch which held two peices of information that she was told to guard with her life. A prickling sensation crawled up the back of her neck as she heard the distinct hum of a KG zoomer coming closer. She fought the urge to look and see if he was heading for her, but everyone else was so calm that she decided it might make her suspicious, and it seemed that they were on the look for something.

She heard the Guard come up along side her, and she could feel his eyes on her. She attempted to look as non-chalant as possibal and carefully merged with the traffic around her.

"Stop your vehicle so that you can be questioned." the guard told her in a gruff voice. Kaida quickly swallowed a lump that, she suspected it was her heart, had jumped into her throat. She turned to look at him with as much disinterested anger, as if he was making her late for some appointment. She really didn't want to stop, but she new that there was no way she could run just yet. Just a little farther and she would be in the slums, then she could dodge the guards in narrow passages but she was still too far away to make a break. She tried to stall as long as she could, pretending to nearly hit another vehicle, thus allowing her to go forward more.

"Pull over _now._" the guard demanded in a rougher tone.

'Damn, I am going to be in so much trouble if I stop now.' she thought to herself. She saw the end of the water slums that connected to the normal slums just ahead of her. 'Just a little farther, and I'll be able to outrun this loser.' she stared at the gap in the buildings. 'Just a little more...' Suddenly a Krimson guard appeared heading out of the normal slums, effectively and inadvertently blocking her path.

'Damn!' she screamed in her mind. She was forced to make a gentle turn to the right. In a split second everything went through her head. There was a man on a zoomer in front of her, a mere four feet in front of her. Below was water. If she crashed she might be able to escape the guards. She wasn't sure if they actually suspected her, but she didn't need to be caught with the papers she had on her.

"Yes _sir._" she spoke in a condescending manner and reached for the switch that would drop her to ground level. She was sure that he saw her movement as he also went for his lever. Suddenly she let her foot slip and kicked the peddle. She fell forwards and clung to the body of the zoomer as it lurched forward, easily crossing the short distance between her and another zoomer.

She let out a shriek as the two vehicles collided to make it seem more like an accident. There was an explosion as both drivers fell to the water below. Kaida felt a hot burning in her arm as some part of the two crafts slashed open her skin. The moment she hit the water she grabbed for something heavy, and allowed herself to sink to the bottom of the dirty water.

It was disgusting. She felt slimy, even in the water. Her cut burned and the dark blood only clouded the water further. On the surface the other driver splashed and fought to get out of the slum water, though the Krimson guards basically ignoring him. They watched as a blood cloud could be seen floating to the surface as well as some bubbles.

"No doubt the girl's dead." grunted the KG who had been following her.

"Too bad we didn't get to question her then kill her." a second KG joined in.

"Either way, she's no good rebel now." Both guards laughed gruffly and turned their zoomers leaving the scene. Kaida watched the fuzzy shadows as best as she could. When she was sure they were gone she pushed herself away from the clump of hot twisted wreckage she had held onto. Once she managed to swim to a spot under a low board walk, she pushed off the ground and rose to the surface, gulping air.

She tried to rub the dirty water from her eyes as she looked under the boards and through the cracks to see what she could see. The Guards that had been watching her had moved on and the number of red suits in the area had diminished.

'Damn.' she yelled in her mind, 'I got stuck right when the guards decided to visit this part of town. Great luck I had.' She looked towards the merge of the two slums and swam quietly towards it under the wood. When she was sure no guards were around, she hauled herself out of the water and onto the pavement. She had a second of rest before she was nearly kicked in the face by a passer-by. No one seemed to notice her, as if it was common for people to climb out of the slums.

Kaida frowned angrily and began to lift herself up, but as she did and her muscles pulled her skin tighter her wounded arm seared with pain. She nearly collapsed but managed to push up on her knees. She placed a hand on the bloody wound and cringed.

"Great..." she mumbled, "just great. My first mission is totally easy and I get torn up just from getting around. Man I suck at this." She stood, her hand still holding her arm and began walking through the slums back to the hideout. She had only taken ten steps when she stopped dead and her hand dove into her pouch frantically and only stopped when she yanked out the papers to see that they were more or less ok. She stuffed them away and continued her long walk.

She didn't want to take a zoomer for fear that she might pass out or something, and really hurt herself. It was going to take her at least an hour to make it back there in this condition. She was severally shaken from the crash and long swim. Her wound was rapidly losing blood, and it would only get colder and with her damp clothing, that wasn't going to help.

"Damn. I cant let anyone find out about this. What the hell am I going to do?"

* * *

cries sorry it took me so long! I am so very sorry! I will be updating faster now, and I have all of spring break to work! So please forgive me! Also, I hope you don't mind but this chapter is all Kaida. Don't worry, its still a Jak story after all, I just need a little on what Kaida does.

PS: let me know if you think I am over doing Kaida, I am trying very hard to make Kaida a good OC. Thanks!


	10. Transformation

Her wound was rapidly losing blood, and it would only get colder and with her damp clothing, that wasn't going to help.

"Damn. I cant let anyone find out about this. What the hell am I going to do?"

* * *

Yes, Hell indeed. 'Hell' was not burning in a desert, it was: walking through the cold, dimming streets, wearing wet clothing, and sporting a rather dangerous arm wound. Oh yes and doing all this while carrying some very important materials. It was just like something out of a video game. Oh the irony. 

In the distance, Kaida heard an explosion and had a sneaking suspicion that it was Jak and Daxter finishing up their job. She was about to push all thoughts to the back of her mind and slum onward at the same snail pace when something sparked in her mind.

'If I get back just before Jak, then maybe nobody will notice me.I know for a fact that there is a conversation that will go on, so if I go in, drop off the papers, and head into the back, I will be completely forgotten in a matter of moments.' Kaida decided that this was a good plan and the thought of having to get to the underground first pushed a little adrenaline into her body and urged her forward. Her short burst only kept her going for a mere block then her head started to throb and her vision went a little cloudy. She had to stop moving altogether so that she could again know which direction was up.

'I cant take this anymore I am going to have to drive or I wont be able to make it back today, if at all.' Kaida looked around and, for the first time all day, luck provided. Parked next to a cold grey building was a large two person zoomer. It was one of the slower ones that had seats so they could be driven in her condition. She made it over to the craft and hopped(more like climbed and flopped weakly) into the driver seat. After a deep breath, she kicked the zoomer and took off.

As her speed got going and the alleys became narrow, she was forced to use both hands for control. The icy wind whipped past her, drying her clothes but at the same time chilling her to the core. The wind and moisture being pushed along her skin constantly grazed over her wound, causing it to burn painfully. She began to near the hideout and begged time to move faster.

As soon as the alley for the hideout came into view, she was filled with a mild weary joy, and moments later, she saw blonde hair and a blue shirt heading through the crowd. Jak had made hisappearance, just as Kaida had hoped that he would. He was closer then she was to the entrance of the alley, so Kaida gunned the zoomer and sped past Jak and into the alleyway. Jak paused for a moment, wondering who was zooming in, but continued on regardless.

Kaida jammed on the brake and hopped out of the vehicle without waiting for it to come to a stop. Kaida disappeared into the door just as Jak came around the corner. Kaida put a hand over her wounded arm to make sure no blood could be seen, then yanked the two pieces of paper from her pouch and made her way up to Torn's desk. Torn, however, was not at his table.

Kaida glanced anxiously around, then slapped the papers on the desk. She jumped slightly at the clunk of boots as Torn stepped back in.

"Well, finally you get back. If you weren't new, we would have assumed you'd been captured by now." Torn drawled out. The sound of the door reached her ears, and the heavy thud of boots sounded from the stairs of the entrance to the hideout. Kaida gave a quick nod to Torn and, in attempt to seem irritated at the fact that he had said he didn't think she would make it, stabbed the dagger Torn had lent her into the table, then stepped quickly away and into the bunk area of the hideout.

Torn looked after her a second, but soon turned to the papers Kaida had put on the table. One was the map he had given her and the other was a list of code. Torn faced the large map stuck to the wall behind him and began to try to search for the place indicated to in the code. Torn was quickly disrupted by Daxter;

"The 'demolition duo' has returned One BBQ'd ammo dump served up hot!" Even though his back was turned, he shook his head and a sneer almost instantly curled on Torn's mouth at that glass-breaking voice.

"We saw something odd while we were torching that ammo. The Baron's guards were giving barrels filled with eco to a group of metal heads." At Jak's news, Torn instantly became interested.

"Really, the Shadow will be very interested to hear that." Torn spoke as he turned to face the pair, his face held a thoughtful look, and a spark of plotting could be seen. Jak took this moment of silence to head into the bunk area's of the hideout. He could have sworn he had seen Kaida head in there just before he had arrived.

Kaida kicked off her boots by her bed and immediately headed for the showers. There was silence in the tiled room as she entered, and grabbed up a few towels. It was still only early evening, so she was sure that she wouldn't have to worry about people walking in on her, but either way, she still brought a towel- she could throw on at the last minute. Her boots made a sucking noise as she yanked them off her feet. She emptied the water out and washed out the filth from the dirty water, then set them to dry. She peeled off all of her clothing and stepped under the hot spout of water.

She watched the tile floor tint with the dirty water that flowed off of her. She let her hair down and the water became darker. Once the waters ran clean she venturedto remove her hand from her arm wound. It burned up the length of her arm as the hot water seared it, cleaning the open flesh. The clear water ran a dirty red as blood and grim exited the wound. Only when it was ruby red did she stop her scrubbing and wrap it in a small towel. No longer able to help herself, she slumped to the floor and sat under the warm falling water. She could feel the water streams sliding over her skin, playing a game of rapid tag, before falling onto the tiled floor.

Jak stepped quietly around the bunks, as a few exhausted bodies remained in beds, awaiting their night shift. He went first to the bunk they had used, but not finding her here, he continued to look around. He stopped as he heard the hush of running water in the showers. Daxter leaned over, speaking directly into Jak's ear with moderate quietness.

"Don't worry, I'll see if its her!" His tone was over enthusiastic and Jak reached up and stopped his little friend from jumping into the shower area. Kaida could hear the soft taps of boots at the entrance of the room, but they seemed so faint that he could not rouse her from her semi-consciousness. Everything seemed to far away too matter, no matter how close it really was.

Jak stepped as close to the entrance as he could without actually looking in(and without letting Daxter peep in).

"Kaida? Is that you in there?" he asked, loud enough to resonate in the showers. At the ring of her name, Kaida came alive and, identifying he source of the voice, she forced herself to stand and throw a towel on. She shut off the shower and scooped up her clothing and stepped quickly to the exit. Jak stepped back on the sound of foot steps to allow the person passage by. Kaida stopped in front of him and gave a small and slightly nervous smile.

"I thought it was you. How did your uh, mission go?" Jak asked, genuinely curious. Kaida gave a shrug.

"Ok."

"That's it? No problems?" Kaida shook her head, feeling it was best left unsaid exactly what had happened. Kaida gave another smile of reassurance and stepped past Jak, dropping her dirty clothes in a pile that seemed to be the wash, and began to pull more clothes out of the closet of random items for the underground. This time she pulled out only a pair of capri's and a white tank top.

'This,' she decided, 'will make it much easier to blend in.' Jak followed her, noting the towel, now specked with blood, wrapped around her arm. He was about to open his mouth to question her again but quickly shut it, deciding it would be too much of a hassle to work it out of her when she obviously didn't want to say. Kaida froze for a second and there was the distinct grumble of her stomach, echoed almost immediately by Jak's.

"Guess its feeding time. I'll go see what crap they got around here." Kaida nodded with a mildly enthusiastic manner, partly hungry, and partly wanting him to leave so she could change. Kaida turned back to her clothes. Jak stepped to go find some food, but before he did, pulled out a package from his pouch and set it on the bed. When Kaida heard him leave she went to her bed and quickly changed. She sat down with a heavy sigh, but stood up almost instantly when she felt herself sit on something. She turned around and saw the pack. It was a KG health pack. With a small smile she untied her arm and opened the pack.

The small amount of green eco contained within flooded instantly to her wounded arm. She watched as the flesh closed up and he pain vanished. She continued to smile and silently thanked Jak, knowing he was the only one who could have put it there, but her thoughts quickly changed and her smile vanished. Why hadn't she used a KG health pack? She was sure she had passed some crates on the way back; why hadn't she used them? She scolded herself inside and slowly began to feel worse and worse for it. She looked down at her still wrapped feet. She had completely forgotten about the glass she had stepped on. Why did she step on it? Why didn't she pay attention to where she was going? What was wrong with her? Her mood spiral was broken, thankfully, by Jak as he returned with a plate of what was apparently food. It looked suspiciously like the food that they had been served in prison.

Jak bent over slightly and offered the plate. Kaida gave Jak a smile of thanks and raised an eyebrow at the questionable food.

"Yeah, I know is sucks but what do you expect around here?" Jak actually had a minor smile on his face as he spoke to Kaida, and she had to smile as well. Kaida selected a few fruits and what seemed to be large bread buns. When she had finished Jak placed the plate up on the top bunk and climbed quickly up onto the bed. There was a creak as Jak took his spot and she could hear him begin to try the food. Kaida bit into a fruit and found it was actually good, though obviously old by how bruised it was. Up on the top bed, Daxter made a choking noise.

"Yuck this stuff is horrible"

"Hey," Jak spoke up, "its better than some food I've had, and its all you've got, so stop complaining. Don't worry it wont kill you." Kaida let out a chuckle and Daxter stuck his face over the edge of the bed looking distastefully at her.

"Hey, don't be such a jerk!" Kaida stuck her tongue out at him and he glared her. Kaida locked him in a staring contest for a moment before suddenly reaching up and yanking him down. She gave him a noogie and rubbed his fur backwards before letting him go. He jumped down and looked indignantly at her.

"What the hell was that for!" Kaida couldn't help chuckling at him. He looked so put off and yet funny, as his hair was sticking up in odd angles even as he desperately tried to rub it back down. Kaida continued to laugh and looked up as she heard a few deep chuckles from the bunk above. Daxter turned his back and crossed his arms.

"Come on, Dax. She was just kidding." Jak said once his desire to laugh had subsided. When Daxter didn't say anything Kaida suspected that he was actually angry with them. She quietly stood up and snuck up behind him. Before he had a chance to notice she reached down and grabbed him. He was about to start yelling when she suddenly stroked him nicely behind the ears, and he couldn't help himself. He was quiet and content instantly. Kaida let out another small chuckle at how easily he was pacified, then tossed him up to Jak.

Kaida went back to her food and finished up while listening to Jak and Daxter talk about various things. She found out to her happiness, that the bun was actually full of a meat-in-gravy paste and was actually very nice. As the talk continued she felt her sleep begin to catch up to her.

She felt as if she had only fallen to sleep for a few moments before she felt herself being shaken awake.

"Hey, wake up we gotta get back to work." She felt a sudden weight on her stomach and assumed that a certain furry orange rat had jumped on to her.

"Yeah, come on. The tattooed freak show wants us all." Kaida blinked her eyes and for a moment even the dim light blinded her. She blinked again looking up at Jak's face. She pushed her self up and slipped on her, now dry, boots. Jak turned and lead the way out into Torn's office. It seemed that with each step that short nap made her feel better and better, though she suspected that it was also due to the health pack she had taken. She almost felt as if her earlier experience hadn't happened. Torn was standing and watch them as they came in.

"Late again. I have another important mission for you." Torn's voice held that tint of constant annoyance at the world that he was famous for. But for all that Torn seemed to be in a good mood.

"You know, so far your gigs have been easier than stealin' grass from a sleeping yakow." Daxter had to open his mouth. Torn regarded him for a sec before letting out a sadistic seeming laugh.

"You and the rodent want to start proving yourselves. One of our "suppliers" needs his payment delivered- a bag of eco ore. Take the zoomer parked out back and drive it to the hip hog heaven saloon in south town. Ask for Krew- He'll be there. And don't let the Baron's patrols stop you." Torn looked to Kaida

"You, you'll run a decoy since the eco is important stuff." Kaida only nodded. "There is an identical zoomer on the other side of the alley for you. It has a false parcel on the back. Distract the guards if they chase you. I don't care what you do, just get it done. By the way, when you get there, pump Krew for information. He's wired into the city and may know what the Baron is up to." Daxter looked serious and grinned at Torn, who really didn't seem to care.

"You can count on us!"

"Are you still here?" Torn responded in a grumpy tone. Maybe he wasn't in as much of a good mood as previously thought. The entire trio frowned, but left none the less. Kaida and Jak started up their zoomers and headed slowly and inconspicuously into the city. Kaida lagged a bit behind Jak, so as not to seem like a pair. She knew that once they were in the main plaza they would be fired upon and her driving skills would be tested.

They glided into the open area and she could see the blockade on the other end. There was a loud clank and a motorized whir and the trio watched as the large cannons armed and directed at them. It was on. The buzz and sound of gun shots whizzed past them, and both drivers punched the gas. Jak heard a loud wiz past his ear and glanced over his shoulder noting that there were even more guards behind him.

'Oh shit.' The pair were bent low over their zoomers as they went along, Kaida slightly behind Jak. "Duck down!" Kaida yelled at exactly the right moment and they both dropped to the ground level and under the blockade. They whipped around the corners and when the road split Kaida yelled out to Jak again.

"Go left!" Jak instantly did what she said, and the Krimson Guards paused for a second not sure who to go after. Then, they split and went for both drivers. Jak had little time to worry if Kaida would be ok, and Kaida had little time to worry for Jak as they were both being tailed by the KG.

Jak already had a mental map of where this place was from looking at the one on Torn's desk, but it was hard to think and to drive like this at the same time. Though he was thankful that Kaida had managed to take some heat off of him, it was still going to be a long ride in his mind. There was a sickening jolt as the zoomer took some hits. Luckily, nothing vital was hit and the eco was safe. A little black smoke hissed out of the machine as he gunned it along a straight away. After a few more precarious turns the road widened and he could smell the waters of the port. There was a volley of fire the whizzed past him and he dove to the waters. The craft zoomed just over the surface, and he headed straight for the bar in his sights.

In the face of his speed, the guards were falling farther and farther behind. He rose to the highest level to avoid the wall in his way and aimed to the left of the bar. At the last moment, he grabbed the ego and abandoned the craft. It smashed into the wall and Jak disappeared into the crowd. From the guards distance, they didn't notice him abandon the craft.

"Figure he's done?" asked one of the pursuing KG.

"Yeah, 'sides, we don't get paid to waste our time on stuff like this." they all let out a sadistic chuckle at the notion of someone dying in a violent explosion, then turned and left. Jak watched them carefully until they left, and once sure that he sign was correct, headed into the bar.

Kaida let out a hiss into the rushing air as a shot grazed her shoulder. Not enough to cause more than a minor cut but painful none the less.

'The streets here are too narrow, I should have gone the other way! I need more room. They are going to kill me at this rate!' she screamed in her head. The zoomer jolted as it was shot again and again. The turns here were to sharp and for this zoomer, they were just too hard to make. She had to slow down, while the KG, though slower over long distances, handled so much better.

Somehow a KG caught up to her and slammed into her side. She veered to the left in a attempt to dodge another ramming. She whipped down the alley and around the corner, only to be trapped by a dead end. Her face showed pure surprise and horror as she threw her weight to the side and attempted to turn the zoomer. She continued to slide sideways due to the momentum, and as the wall came ever closer Kaida finally bailed out.

Of course, falling a story or two was not a wise way to land. The craft smashed against the wall and exploded as so many things liked to do in this 'game'. Kaida was still a little shell shocked as she stood, and it took a moment for her vision to focus. Several of the 10 or 12 KG had dismounted and approached her swiftly, guns in hand. She focused as best as she could and the moment they were close enough she lunged forward and punched them one after another.

Her resistance was short-lived, however, as she soon felt the electric surge of a gun rise though her back. She fell to the ground, her lungs frozen by the shock though before she could catch her breath, pain wracked her body as several guards caught her at once.

She could feel herself failing. She slammed to the ground when one of the guards hit her with his gun. They knew she couldn't stand and where having their fun with her.

'So, you are really gonna let them kill you like this?' a voice spoke in the back of her head. The voice was... familiar... familiar and haunting.

'Why don't you let me handle them?' Faintly in the back of her mind, Kaida wanted to resist that voice, but she could almost hear a crack as her head was slammed into the pavement by another soldier. Darkness swallowed everything for a moment then...

'Good, finally...' Her mind became clear, and she could not feel the blows being dealt to her flesh. A power ran to the very tips of her fingers and she had never felt like this before. And yet, she was throbbing with pain. It felt as if the electricity was tearing her apart from the inside. She rose to her feet, but something was wrong. The world looked clear, and she could see the Krimson Guards who had been attacking her. For a moment they stepped back, and seemed hesitant. But that was only for a moment. They were on her again, this time, only with guns.

To her surprise and horror, before they could reach her, she moved with incredible quickness, taking down one after another. What frightened her was her body was moving without her.

'Have no fear in this. It will all be done soon, and I am having so much fun!' That sickening voice in her head again. In her soul her eyes widened. This voice, it was the one in her dream. No, in her nightmares. In all those tortured sleeps in prison, and that one knight, when she met the voice... She watched as another guard fell dead to the ground, and willed her hands to rise so that she could see them. It was as she had thought, long dark claws on each hand, and pale-death skin.

Seconds later, she lost control of her body and was an onlooker as those claws sank into the throat of another. Slowly, the realization of what was happening solidified in her mind and an anger at herself for letting it happen festered.

'Yes, go on. Hate yourself and everything you are doing. Go on.' The fear and anger built up in her body. She was just some kid who had been playing a game at home. She shouldn't be out here killing people, and helping smuggle goods. No, it shouldn't be like this! She let out a scream in her mind and suddenly felt drag on her arm. A thud sounded as a body fell to the ground. She stood still trying to understand. She had control again, but the claws were still there and streams of dark energy arced to the open wounds of the bodies. That last one had been her. She had forced her arm and slashed the guard, but that was all she could take. She was lost in her mind.

'Yes, finally, you understand. Stay there, in your safe mind. Let me have this freedom. I so deserve it.'

* * *

Ok, just for the record, since it is her first transformation she did not have to collect dark eco. Yes, she will have to after this. Sorry again for having a lot of Kaida. Let me know if I need to improve her. Thanks! 

To my readers:

Jediferret: Thank you very much for your input! I am glad that, although you don't like this kind of story, you are enjoying mine!

Hikari dragoness of light: Thanks! Yeah, the KG are really stupid. I suppose some of them remember the prisoners, but I think that with all of the deaths, the KG gets a faster employee turn over then McDonalds.

AnimeDutchess: Thank you very much! As you can probably tell I am trying very hard to keep my O.C. Characters done well so thank you very much for your feed back!

(Please note that I did not respond to all reviewers. If I did not respond to you please don't take it personaly, I just want to reply to only the people who have given specific examples or responded directly to a comment of mine. Thank you!)

PS yes I know not all responders got mentioned here. Don't worry I'll mention you next time!


	11. Oracle

She stood still trying to understand. She had control again, but the claws were still there and streams of dark energy arced to the open wounds of the bodies. That last one had been her. She had forced her arm and slashed the guard, but that was all she could take. She was lost in her mind.

'Yes, finally, you understand. Stay there, in your safe mind. Let me have this freedom. I so deserve it.'

* * *

The empty numbness in Kaida's limbs was only surpassed by the feeling you get at the moment of your death. But as quickly as it came on it ebbed away. The darkness was losing power.

'No!' She was out of dark eco and the minimal amounts found in the city couldn't sustain her transformation. Kaida's control and consciousness slipped back into control. Her skin tone returned and the claws shrank away. The feeling of all the blood rushing from her head gripped her and she staggered. She looked at the dead bodies at her feet and felt a touch ill.

She searched out a KG box in surprisingly short time. For all of the fighting she had done she felt relatively undrained. With the quick use of the health pack she was back to health and looked around for a zoomer. Once at the port, Kaida at first was pointed for Krew's bar, but as she came past the halfway mark over the water she stopped.

Why was she heading for the bar? She knew that Jak had completed the mission by the fact that there was no big commotion around the saloon, nor had she heard anything over any of the KG's radios. She had no need to head there. Jak did need her for anything, plus she knew that he would have a mission for Krew to do. She sat up on the single person zoomer and contemplated what to do next. Her mind flicked through all of the missions Jak did in the game and she landed on the gun courses. She hauled the zoomer around and headed for the gun course.

So what if she couldn't keep one, it would be nice to try out a gun in the course. She landed outside the door and hurried in. The room was empty of people and her boots crunched on empty shells dropped by various fire arms. Her eyes scanned the walls of weapons and she pulled another Morph Gun off the wall. Her eyes ran over the gun quickly. Back in her world she had used a rifle and her dad's old revolver, but that was only a few times and she still had very little practical knowledge of guns. She picked up a clip and loaded the gun carefully. She aimed at the far wall, knowing that the blast wouldn't reach, and fired.

The bang was amplified by the close walls and the kickback made her stumble. She cocked the gun again and re-situated herself in a better stance and fired again. Though she didn't move back, the kick still sent a jerk through her arms. She unloaded the gun and put it back on the wall. She needed a smaller weapon. A glance around again and she laid her eyes on a longer gun. It was like a long, slender version of the Blaster Gun.

She took it off the wall and removed the long mod. She fired, the now hand gun sized weapon, again at the far wall. The blast was significantly smaller then the Scatter Gun but the shot seemed to go a little farther and the kickback was manageable enough that she was sure the she could handle the gun one-handed. She jumped startled, at the computerized voice as it spoke in a calm tone.

"Would you like to try the gun course?" She stepped through the door for the gun course and waited for the targets to appear. She loaded and cocked the gun as quickly as she could and prepared. The first batch of targets were easy to shoot and she quickly got the hang of the gun. The clips for this gun were surprisingly small so she had to load more often then Jak's morph gun had to.

She soon had a good handle on firing and loading the gun. Instead of walking forward to the next set of targets, she quickly switched the mod on her gun and loaded the new ammo. This mod had a scope on it, though at this distance she still didn't need it. She held this gun like she would a rifle and aimed for the next target. The shot was like the Blaster Mod for Jak's gun, except this seemed a little more high powered as it pierced the target and continued to the wall.

Once she cleared the rest of the targets(shooting a few of the friendly targets accidentally, as well) she changed back to the first mod. After looking at the broken pieces of targets she should not have killed, she had decided to go back to the basic gun and work on her shooting. By the end of the course she had a deep set frown on her face. She had nailed more friendly targets then she had thought she would. Her aim was off and she was a little trigger happy. She pulled the trigger the instant a target jumped into her vision without giving herself time to register what it was.

Despite her issues, somehow, at the end of the course the computer announced that she had passed and asked her if she would like to "try for the course record?" Her spirits had been lifted for the short time she had spent shooting, but once she exited the doors of the course, the heavy weight in her chest settled back full force.

She set the gun and gun mod back on the shelf, but after a few minutes of hesitation she found herself irresistibly driven to take the gun. Kaida bit her lip, she was against stealing, but she liked that gun and there was a feeling deep down that told her that she deserved that gun. She had, after all, done that last job with Jak, and she was almost sure that she would be needing to do some job for Krew in the future, so wasn't she entitled to a weapon too? At last she decided she may as well have the gun, but the mods she refused to take.

'I'll have to earn those.' she told herself with purpose. The gun was small enough and the holster on her belt was big enough that Kaida easily carried the gun out of the building without looking suspicious. She quickly mounted her zoomer and rose into the skies ready to find something to do, perhaps visit Torn again, or maybe wait for Jak or something. She had only gone 20 or 30 feet out over the port when a sudden feeling came over her.

It was almost as if it was a tug at her heartstrings. She headed carefully in the direction it pulled her. She worked her way around the maze of city streets with ease and little attention as the tugging directed her with care. She stopped at one point and thought about turning around. She had never felt this before, what if it was something dangerous? Yet as she pondered the pull did not grow, and seemed to understand her fears. It remained as if it were just a casual thought. She gave into her curiosity and it continued to lead her.

As she suddenly took notice of her surroundings, she found things to be relatively familiar. She headed into a place well known to her, the water slums. Her heart sped up a notch as she got the feeling she was close. She pulled up next to the dock and walked along the boards and stopped at the door of the only moderately clean building in the slums.

She looked at the doors and the smooth grey walls of the house and understood. This was the house of the Oracle.

Jak stepped out of the Hip Hog Saloon with relish, the weight of his newly acquired gun resting on his back. Truthfully, he had never had a gun before, but he was very eager to try it out. He arrived at the gun course in short time, for having walked the entire way.

He noted quickly the stacks of ammo crates against the wall, and noticed also that a few of them had been broken open. Jak cracked open a few crates himself and stocked up on ammo. The gun was relatively easy to load and cock, and he ignored the crunch of empty ammo shells has he hurried to the door of the gun course. A flash when though his mind, and he had to shake off the strange thought that had recently decided to stick in his mind.

Something was pulling at him, as if it was a thought he had long ago put aside and was now unable to completely produce. Jak quickly forced it away as the first target popped up.

He found he had to stand with good footing as the gun's kickback was powerful. The scatter gun blast was powerful and took out more then one enemy at a time. At the end of the course the computer asked him if he would like to try for a record, but when the flash of the thought from before, entered his mind he had to pass on the gun course.

He exited the building and ran back to Krew's place, eager to see what he and the man named Sig, had to say now. The doors of the building whooshed open and Krew greeted him quickly.

"Excellent shooting, Jak! Ever thought of being a wastelander, mmm?" Jak crossed his arms and, having never heard of a 'wastelander', responded.

"Can't say that I have." However, Krew seemed all to ready to tell him all.

"Wastelanders find items for me outside the city walls, 'ey. Any artifact or weapon worth having comes though MY hands." he spoke with confidence and then added, "Work for me, and I'll throw some of the sweeter items your way, mmm?"

"Kill metal heads, get toys? Sounds good to me." Jak responded with interest at the description of the job. Daxter's face contorted into fear and he quickly put in his two cents.

"Slow down, Jak and the fat man! You two had better run that by me again... Cuz there's NO WAY I'm going outside the city to face more metalheads!"

"Sig will show you the ropes." Krew responded as everyone ignored Daxter's loud protest.

"So, YOU wanna be wastelanders, huh dough boys?" Sig spoke up as he stepped towards Jak and the frightened Daxter. "Well, we'll see what you're made of when we get out in the thick. Krew wants some new trophies to put butts in chairs at the hip hog. So I'm gonna bag him five nasty metal heads at the pumping station. Don't wet your fur chili pepper, cause we're rollin' with the peacemaker." he added at the look on Daxter's face. However, his face changed instantly once he looked at the big gun.

"Wooh! I need one of those. Where'd you get it?" He asked eagerly. Krew cut him off after that comment however,

"Don't ask. Sig needs some one to watch his back while he tracks the metal heads, 'ey?"

"We'll meet at the pumping station. Listen cherries, don't you leave me dangling in the wind out there!" Sig added seriously, despite the odd nicknames.

"Let's do it." Jak said simply with a broad smirk/grin. With a nod Sig went to the back, probably to prepare for the hunt and Jak headed out, into the street so he could try again to remove the mysterious pull on his mind. He shook his head and knocked a citizen from his zoomer in order to steal it. He set off at a good pace towards the pumping station, all the time having to deliberately keep the drawing tug at his brain away.

Jak's scowl deepened as he found that the farther he went the stronger the pull in his mind seemed to speak to him. When he finally entered the water slums he was concentrating so hard on fighting the pull that he didn't realize he had changed direction slightly and ended up in front of a large, semi clean, grey building.

A spark of curiosity flared up in Jak's mind when, at the sight of the building, the annoying pull died down. He stepped off his zoomer and stepped up to the door.

"Hey Jak," spoke up Dax, "not that I am in a hurry to die or anything, but aren't we supposed to be meeting Sig?"

"Yeah," Jak replied, sounding slightly distracted. "He can wait for a minute. I just want to know what's inside this building."

"Uh, isn't that a little rude, to just walk into someone's house?"Daxter said, though Jak didn't seem to hear him. Jak stepped up to the door and tried to make it open but the door was locked shut tight.

Once Kaida stepped though the doors the feeling in her head disappeared and she lost the ability to walk. Candles, that never seemed to shrink, burned all around the house, shedding and orange light around the place. The flickering candles gave a spooky glint to the large metal relic placed in the back of the house. Kaida's jaw had gone slack and she could only stare at her surroundings.

The Oracle in person was nothing like it seemed when watching through the TV screen. A resounding voice issued from the large golden statue and filled the space.

"Greetings lost one." The deep voice spoke.

"S-so you called me here?" Kaida said quietly when she was finally able to speak.

"Yes, I summoned you here so I could speak with you." the Oracle continued, "I can sense your inner torment. The dark seed sewn into your body has made its appearance. Your soul was not meant to be subjected to this treatment and your mind cannot yet accept what it is you are now."

"Of course not! I am not supposed to be here!" Kaida spoke loudly as her distress finally broke free,

"None of this makes sense, and none of it concerns me! I'll never see my home again!" Her numb legs gave way under her and she fell to her knees as the weight of the thoughts she had suppressed in her mind, came back. "A-and even if I do, look at me! There is no way I could go back now..." The weights were again fully realized on her soul as she finished speaking.

"Yes, I feel deep regret that you are here now. The afflictions of your soul are permanent now and you will forever bear these scars. However," Kaida looked up as the Oracle spoke, "despite the negative side, you have been given great power. I will give you the ability to control this darkness, not only to keep it at bay but to control its great power for your own uses. The enemies of us all are the Metal Head creatures. Bring me skull gems and I will teach you to harness your powers. Do not despair, you will find a solution to your plight."

After this, the Oracle went silent and Kaida knew this was the last word. She rose, ready to search out skull gems. The Oracle said she would find a solution to her problems, but a grim hope was all that appeared in her mind. The solution might just be that she would survive and find a way to live with this. In any case, there was no present way to rid herself of her dark side, so she may as well learn how to use these powers to her own advantage.

She ran a hand through her hair to calm any remaining frazzled nerves. Reaching into her pack, Kaida counted 3skull gems. She would definitely need to get to work.

'Maybe,' she wondered, 'if I collect all of the skull gems by the end of this game the oracle will help me leave...' She looked down at her new gun resting comfortably in its holster. She knew full well that at this point in the game the only place to hunt for metal heads is out side of the city walls, and the only way out at the moment is into the pumping station. She knew, also, that Jak would be soon heading to the pumping station with Sig, if he wasn't there already. 'It doesn't matter if he is there or not. I need those gems.' A sound of almost hungry desperation seeped into her mental voice, but for the most part she ignored it. She turned to the door and stepped up to it and waited for it to open.

Standing outside the door, Jak could hear voices coming from inside. Daxter opened his mouth to protest again, but before he could his orange ears perked up the familiar voice. "Hey, I think Kaida is in there!" he said excitedly. Jak looked up at Daxter to confirm that Daxter had said what he thought he had said. He turned back to the door and put his ear next to it, listening intently for the conversation on the inside. Though his hearing was acute and though the metal door should carry sound extremely well, Jak could only hear fragments of the conversation going on.

"...don't belong here...I'll never see my home again!" silence for a moment, then the voices began again.

"...at me! There is no way I could go back..." The voices faded in and out. The next voice he could hear speaking was so deep that he could only tell that it was resonating. It was impossible to distinguish precise words and sounds. After this there came a silence and Jak backed away from the door. Those statement had come from Kaida.

She seemed to know her way around the city fairly well so how could it be that she wouldn't see her home? Did she come from somewhere else? But there weren't any other cities nearby, how would she have gotten here? Questions about things, he was sure were none of his business, wandered around in his mind until, abruptly, the door slid open.

There another chapter done. It took me a while cuz I had to decide whether or not to split the chapter into two pieces, but in the end it came out like this. Thanks for your patience!

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LunaticPandora1: This review I felt that I must respond to. Thank you very much for your input. I will keep that in mind. Please don't think that I am disregarding your comment, as I very much am not doing that. My defense is this: the darkness is the opposite of the light, and thus, each darkness is different. To a certain extent the Dark forms are alter egos, and again, each will differ. In Jak's case, once he comes to terms with, and learns to control his dark form he basically uses it as an advantage. He is also much more used to this sort of thing. Kaida is much more fearful in general and everything she isnt, the darkness balances out. She is not meant to be in the game and she is not meant to have a dark side. The dark inside of her frightens her and as much as she pushes it away, it pushes back, and eventually, as the game dictates, she cant hold it back all of the time. She isnt Jak so she will never have the same relationship with her darkness as he does, but eventually...she'll accept it. Thank you, again, for your response! I hope you understand my reasoning and such, but if you still would like to talk about it, feel free to review and/or E-mail me.

KatanaBlade: Thank you! I am happy to hear that I have encouraged you to read Jak & Daxter fan fiction. I hope my story continues to be one on your favorites list!

To all other reviewers: Thank you for your responses! For those of you who said that my story about being 'sucked into a game' is something you never thought you'd read or didn't like that story theme, but like mine, special thanks! And I hope everyone continues to review!


	12. Ill

After this there came a silence and Jak backed away from the door. Those statement had come from Kaida.

She seemed to know her way around the city fairly well so how could it be that she wouldn't see her home? Did she come from somewhere else? But there weren't any other cities nearby, how would she have gotten here? Questions about things, he was sure were none of his business, wandered around in his mind until, abruptly, the door slid open.

Kaida blinked in the out door light and tripped on the door frame when she saw Jak standing outside. He blinked at her but his face was straight

"Kaida, what are you doing here? Who's in there?" Jak's voice didn't ring with any particular concern but it did hold a note of curiosity.

"Eh," Kaida stumbled on her words. 'What should I say? I mean, he's going in right? But, what can I say?' "I er, are you here for something?"

"Uh," Now it was Jaks turn to swallow his words. "I mean, yeah I came here for something, but I asked you, what are _you_ doing here?" Kaida gave Jak a broad smile and pointed to the door, indicating him to enter, then she side stepped him and walked away innocently. She waved over her shoulder in an 'I'll-meet-you-later' way and left Jak with a fine helping of confusion.

Jak blinked after her. He couldn't help the feeling that he had just been left hanging with out answers. Daxter, even , was silent at Kaida's retreating back. Jak turned and looked at the smooth grey door to the house. She had told him to enter so why not? He stepped forward and when the door rushed open, he entered

Kaida turned a corner on the boardwalk and looked back over her shoulder to see Jak entering the Oracle's house. She stopped and took a deep breath. Kaida felt relief pour down on her. She didn't know if he would drill her for passing him off like that, but all that mattered was that at this moment, she had gotten away with it.

'So,' she thought to herself as she walked. 'the Oracle knows that I am not from here. But what else does it know? I want to know, but I can't go back without those gems.' She made up her mind and hopped onto a zoomer that was parked in the water. However, instead of zooming off into the city she merely maneuvered it next to a building and jumped off onto the roof. She paid no attention as the zoomer sank to the ground and scraped across the wooden boardwalk. Her boots slipped on the smooth inclined surface of the roof over hangs but she managed to get a hold on the metal and made it to the flat of the roof. She found a place where she could see the front of the house of the Oracle but was not in obvious sight. She sat down and rested up against some brickwork. Her stomach made its complaints known and she knew that she hadn't eaten in too long for her liking. But she had to do this, she needed to get those gems.

Jak looked around, his eyes wide, at the open room he had stepped into. The candles flickered as the door slid shut. To Jak's great surprise there was no one else in the room, except a great golden statue that Jak vaguely recognized from years ago

"Greetings great warrior." The deep voice resounded in Jak's ears and his attention was set on the Oracle statue. "I sense there is a dark rage burning within you, and in time it will destroy you with it's madness." Jak frowned at the Oracle.

"Charming sentiment." Daxter muttered in a low voice to Jak.

"Only the last power of the precursors can save you. Destroy my enemies, those creatures you call the metal heads. Bring me 25 of their skull gems, and I will teach you how to control these powers." Jak nodded when the Oracle finished.

"I got it. Can you tell me, what was Kaida in her for?"

"I called her to make her the same offer I have given you. She too contains a darkness, threatening to overcome her." The Oracle answered. This came as a surprise to Jak. He wasn't the only one with this... 'problem'? He knew she had been in there too, and been through a lot too. In fact, he knew more specifics then any other prisoner in that place. He, in fact, had been a sort of part of it. But, he had always assumed that she had just come off with scars and physical changes. Jak had never thought she would have the same side effects as him. He felt these questions come to the surface, but some how he got the feeling the Oracle was done so he meerly nodded to the statue and exited the building.

'But,' he thought to himself as he left, 'maybe the Oracle didn't mean it the same way. It cant be the same. Dax got dark eco too, and he turned orange. Her eco was different, it was mixed with blood. She can't be the same. I am alone in this.' He assured himself of this last comment and attempted to clear his head. He needed to go help Sig. For all he knew, Sig might already be there and Jak would have lost an important job. He turned and headed out to the end of the dock leading out of the city walls.

From her post on the roof, Kaida could see Jak exit the Oracle's building. He paused for only a moment before heading out to where Kaida knew that Sig would be waiting. Once Jak was out of her sights, Kaida climbed down from the roof on a drain pipe. She attempted to not draw attention to herself and walked quickly down the board walk path to where the pipe to the pumping station was set in the wall. She slowed her pace to allow a good space of time for Jak and Sig. She counted and measured the time as best as she could then she entered the doors leading out of the city walls.

Wreckage lay scattered in the sand, still wet from being freshly blown off a water tank. She stepped around the sharp jagged metal and headed for the rising and falling platforms. She could here the sound of shots in the distance and hurried around the corner in the direction of the valve for the slum water system. Jak and Sig would be heading the other way to collect trophies for Krew, so she would have some time to collect metal head gems before Jak and Sig got around this way. She would also, should she need it(she hoped she wouldn't), have some help if she yelled for it.

She jumped quickly from cliff to cliff and finally dropped down onto the beach. She yanked her gun from its holster and kept behind a patch of trees and grass. A group of metal heads stalked along the beach in front of her. There didn't seem to be too many, though she couldn't get a good head count without coming into the open. Kaida checked her gun, made sure it was loaded and took a breath. She needed these gems, they could help her with her 'internal problem' and with them, the Oracle might find a way to get her home.

With that last thought, she stepped from behind the bushes and fired the first shot at the metal heads. These were the fairly weak metal heads, and each took two shots to go down. But from the moment the first shot was fired, the metal head's minds had nothing but her death on them. They swarmed at her with their tazer staffs ready. She fired and fired, taking down each metal head as they came closer.

Unfortunately for her, there was a limit to how fast she could cock and fire. As for the metal heads, with their numbers, they began to come at her more then one at a time. At last Kaida looked around frantically as they began to come 3 at a time, and saw more metal heads come from down the beach, and around the cliffs. She had seriously disturbed a nest.

A sensation of instant burning flashed through her body and all her muscles froze. She dropped to the ground and kicked at the metal head closest to her. She panted heavily while attempting to shoot back the metal heads. There was no way to win this one. There were too many metal heads to shoot; she was running out of ammo, and there were too many too close. Kaida shot the gun over her shoulder and prayed to whatever gods existed here, that she hit.

She wheeled around and jumped the dead body and ran as fast as she could to the cliffs. She climbed up and ran until she reached the spot she wanted. Kaida paused as she looked down at the waters below. She looked back and saw that the group of metal heads had caught up. She looked back down then up again, then jumped. She put her feet flat and together. She hit the water with a crash but before she floated to the surface, she began to swim frantically to shore. Kaida knew there was something else in the water here.

She heard the mechanical whirring in the water and sloshed her way through the water and wet sand until she was fully out. Even then, she dragged herself farther away from the water's edge. She looked back to the surface and could clearly see the bulky water-bot with its red camera/light gleaming. The water was suddenly violently disturbed. The metal heads had shown their lack of intelligence and desire for carnage by jumping in after Kaida. The guard-bot was gone instantly and its calm soothing voice was heard briefly before it began to shoot the metal heads, killing then all instantly.

Kaida just watched, not even thinking about the skull gems. Her heart was on fire and all her limbs were numb. Blood that had dried on her skin and clothes began to run again and painted streaks on her exposed skin. Once she could feel her toes, and her heart settled down, Kaida got to her feet and began to walk back down the beach to the place where she had initially had been fighting. To her luck, all of the metal heads in the area had either been shot or had followed her to their deaths. Kaida came to the first body and inspected its gem.

In the game the gems had popped out, when they were killed. Here, however, the gems remained part of the bodies skull, and the carnage remained on the beach. Kaida grasped the gem of a cold metal head and tugged at it. She could feel where it sat in the skull. The gem was like a horn, and horns could be sawed off, or they would fall off and be regrown. Kaida grabbed her gun from its holster and smashed the head of the dead body. She felt it crack and hit the bone with the butt of her gun again. This time the bone fractured and came apart. The gem slipped forward and with a good hard kick to the face of the metal head, removed it. A little blood oozed on her fingertips from the gem but she looked it over and was satisfied. She pocketed it, but when she looked up at the number of bodies left, she figured it would take hours to pull the gems from the metal heads at the rate she was going. And what about when she got tired? She would move even slower.

Kaida checked the ammo in her gun and cocked it. She needed these gems and even if it was wasting the ammo, she would get them out. She lifted the head of another of the dead animals and grasped the gem in her fingers. Placing the muzzle on the skull next to the gem, she tightened her grip and prepared herself. The usual bang sounded when she pulled the trigger, and the bloody mess of the metal head splattered on the sand. There had been a serious pull on her arm, but Kaida still held the bloody gem in her fingers.

One by one, she went though 'harvesting' the gems from her dead foes. Once she had done them all, she was successfully covered with gore and blood. But, the pack on her hip was full of the valued gems. Kaida had carefully washed each gem in the salt water before placing them in her pack. The bodies that littered the beach would eventually be picked apart by the scavengers that wandered around the outlands. She didn't have to worry about Sig or Jak finding them because this was a part

of the island that they had no reason to go to. Kaida rested on the beach feeling strangely drained, but soon felt the need to leave.

She hauled her sluggish body back up the cliffs and across the beaches. Due to washing the gems, she was grungy, but there wasn't any blood on her skin or really visible on her clothes, so she received no special attention on her trek back through the city. The Oracle's house had been on her way but this overwhelming exhaustion drove her home. She stumbled out of her zoomer and into the hideout. She made it down the stairs and all the way to the back bunk room before she collapsed against the foot of a bed and passed out.

At first, this job seemed easy enough, protect Sig while he powered up his gun and took out the metal head targets. Quick, easy, and simple. However, once they got onto the beach there was not specific area where the creatures could come from. Instead, they came from all angles and some how zeroed into Sig. If that was not stress enough, once Sig had taken the shot and succeed, he moved on, and completely ignored the remaining creatures that were now setting their sights on Jak. He would yell over his shoulder at Jak if he fell too far behind. Eventually he felt his irritation at Sig grow.

Sig had stopped for the last target and Jak walked up behind him and opened his mouth to confront him, but before he could... a trap seemed to be sprung. A pack of metal heads charged at them the moment they caught sight of Sig. Jak cocked his gun and began taking aim. Suddenly a string of profanity issued form Sigh. Jak glanced over and saw the serious/worried look on his face.

"The peacemaker is jammed!" Even Jak, for all of his recent dislike of Sig, was set on edge by this.

"Give me a minute to clean it!" Sig yelled out and dropped to one knee and hurriedly began to remove parts of the gun and clean them out and realign other parts. Jak ran over to where Sig was kneeling and began to shoot anything that came close. Unfortunately the mob was just too large. What could have made so many metal heads gather in one deserted area like this? There was nothing here, that he could think of, that they would want. They couldn't honestly care about the four metal heads that Sig had taken out.

Every time Jak shot, the group took the momentary lapse in fire to come closer, and no matter how fast or how accurate that he was, the attackers just kept coming. His job was too keep Sig safe, and at this moment, it was looking like he might need to change the priority to keeping himself safe. Luckily Daxter had kept himself silent and safely situated on Jak's shoulder. He broke out of his thoughts as a crunch issued behind him. He whipped around to see a metal head who had gone unnoticed long enough to get within feet of Sig. Jak took aim and shot him down, then spun back around to face those targets that had now managed to come frighteningly close. There was a ring of enemies around him now, and that ring was quickly shrinking.

"Yeah baby! The peacemaker is back online!" Jak almost let out an audible sigh of relief as he heard Sig's exclamation. Jak now turned his full attention on those in front of him while he heard Sig dealing with those at his back. In a surprisingly short time, they had finished off the metal heads and taken out the last target.

"BOOM! Home team five, metal heads nothing That was the last one. Tell Krew we got 'em all cooked and canned. I'm gonna clean Peacemaker and pick up the trophies. Ya did good rookie." Sig, for the first time, smiled good naturedly at the two in front of him. Jak felt himself return the smile, but for some reason he had nothing else to say. He turned away as Sig began to clean the peacemaker more carefully.

Jak walked slowly down the beach, collecting all of the skull gems on the ground, and removing all the ones still attached to the heads. He looked at his surroundings and made a mental map of the area and was about to make his way around a cliff face when Daxter pointed out the familiar machinery that signified the way to go home.

"Lets go Jak." Jak nodded and headed towards the city walls. However, had he gone around that corner, he would have seen a fair number of metal head bodies lying on the beach, some with messed up skulls and some missing heads. An hour or however long it was, Kadia stirred. She felt sick all over. Her limbs ached, her guts where tied up in nots and her head was in a vice. She struggled to her feet and looked around. Jak was sitting on his bed and looked up when he saw that she had woken up. He stood quickly nearly dumping Daxter to the floor. Said rodent cussed at Jak but he wasn't paying attention.

He was quickly next to Kaida a hand on her shoulder and the other ready to catch her if she fell again.

"Kaida, are you ok? When I go back you were out cold. The Oracle told me some stuff, are you up to talking?" Jak spoke clearly but softly just incase she wasn't feeling well. Jak looked to Kaida's face to see what she thought but her eyes and features were empty.

"A... a shower. I need... I need a shower..." Kaida mumbled. She turned away and stumbled towards the shower area. Jak was momentarily lost, he quickly regained himself and jumped after her.

"Kaida you seem, well there is something wrong with you. You need to lie down." He gently pulled her shoulder back but Kaida shook Jak off.

"I really need a shower." She slumped into the shower area and seeming indifferent to Jak's presence, kicked off her boots, untied her hair and began to undress for a shower. Jak was thoroughly startled but unsure of exactly what he could do, left the showers before Kaida go too far. As the sound of water slapping the tile came to his ears he walked back to his bed and sat down. He checked the clock on the far wall and noted the time. If she took too long he would check if she was ok. Kaida stood motionless in the shower, her face turned up into the spray of water her clothes had been discarded in a pile on the floor.

She could feel the water track down her skin to her wrists and ankles, then the feeling stopped. The numbness was slowly creeping up her limbs but she seemed not to notice. She looked down at the dirty water running into the drain. It was stained with dirt and blood. She watched as blood that had stuck to her hair ran down the pale parts of her skin then too the floor.

Suddenly she sank to the ground and emptied what little substance her stomach had held. Being mostly liquid it quickly drifted down the drain. She barely had time to gasp for breath before her stomach turned its self inside out again. Once her organ had emptied itself completely, a trickle of blood oozed in the corner of her mouth, and her body continued to wrack itself with dry heaves. She continued to alternately gasp for air and heave, and as the water washed away her sweat she became aware of what had happened.

She had stumbled home, passed out and in a trace-like state, she had come to take a shower. The water from the shower head turned cold and the heaves died down until they left her panting on the floor. When at last, feeling returned to Kaida's fingers, she pulled herself to her feet and turned off the water. She wrapped her starving body in a towel and made her way out of the shower. She managed to find some mismatched shit and pants and staggered to her bed. The exhaustion again gripped at her very soul and she collapsed onto the covers.

Jak jerked awake as the bed rocked minutely and creaked. He looked over the edge to find Kaida out cold, draped over the edge of her bed. Her face was pale and there was smudged, drying blood on the corner of her mouth. Jak frowned as the sight brought back memories of how similar this looked to some times when they would return from torture at the prison. If Jak regained consciousness first, he would look though the bars to see Kaida slumped on the floor, pale from shock, lip bleeding from biting. Jak push Kaida onto the bed completely and pulled the thin sheet up on Kaida's body.

Once Kaida was set, Jak checked on Daxter to see him sleep, then went and took a shower himself. The memories of prison brought back his hatred to his mind, and worrying about Kaida reminded him of his old friends. It had been ages since he had seen them. Jak wondered desperately if they were alive, if everyone was ok, and if they even remembered him. Thoughts of what the Oracle had said too, drifted back. He had to control his power. And from what it seemed, Kaida had the same problem. He looked up into the spray of water and wondered if she too was looking for someone. He turned off the water and dressed himself again.

All that mattered is that Praxis pays for everything he did. If Erol happened to get in the way, all the better. Jak tightened his fists. He didn't care what disgusting jobs he got working in this forsaken city, all that mattered in the end is that he got what he wanted. Leaving his boots at the bottom of the ladder, he climbed up onto his bed and tried to calm his sudden anger so that he could get some actual sleep. Kaida turned on the bed below and her deprived body begged her to wake and satisfy its needs.

It burned. Every part of her body burned. Everything around her was dark and fire seemed to lick at her fingers and toes especially. It was too hot, and in a moment, it was too cold. Suddenly a feeling came to her fingers and she looked down. Water flowed from nowhere over her damaged hands. She thrust her face into the liquid and attempted to drink, but even as the liquid slid down her throat, it suddenly came back up. The river passed on and she attempted to drink again, but with the same result.

Kaida felt bone dry inside. She felt as if her stomach was a hole that would threaten to suck her own flesh in if she didn't feed it. She was falling through blackness for no reason. Falling, and as she gasped for breath to scream, her throat tightened. She couldn't breathe. Her stomach twisted and her body screamed for air but her throat remained closed. The burning numbness climbed through her fingers and toes again. Things flashed before her eyes, her friends, her family, her life. She saw Jak too, and Daxter.

Everything kept flashing, making her dizzy. Her head throbbed and she was falling again. She felt cold and hot at the same time and she could feel liquid again. She opened her eyes, which she didn't know she had closed, and saw a river running up to her fingers. She threw her face down and began to gulp at the fine river hungrily. The tang paused her for only a moment and she looked up for the source. Bodies stacked one on top of the other lay at the source of her river. Torn up bodies that leaked blood on the earth were stacked there.

Kaida was revolted and she tried to pull away but she couldn't, and she kept drinking. She drank, and all the while the numbness in her limbs refused to ebb, and the burning, soul devouring thirst wouldn't leave. Flashed of her friends passed her again through closed eyelids, and she continued to drink.

Kaida jerked upright and began to dry heave over the edge of her bed. This time the heaves continues for only a few minutes but it was painful none the less. All of the muscles in her main body felt strained and cramped. She lay panting quietly on the bed sheets, feeling paralyzed. When she regained motion in her limbs she turned over and saw in the dim light, the outline of her pack of skull gems. Tomorrow... tomorrow, she decided, she would go to the Oracle and turn in her gems for her new powers and maybe a chance to leave... Maybe... She slipped into sleep again, only this time she was so entirely exhausted she didn't have the energy to dream.

Kaida did not go the Oracle in the morning. In fact, she didn't go anywhere for nearly a week. Kaida had awoken the next morning, unable to stand. She was pale, feverish, and sweaty. Jak had made her stay in bed on the first day, but after that she didn't really complain too much. Torn had nodded curtly when he was told she was sick and would be staying at the hideout the entire time. In the mornings Jak or Daxter would give Kaida a plate of food and a jug of water then, they would leave for whatever mission they had.

They came back at all hours of the day and night, and usually were fatigued to the point where they just passed out. Jak would take a shower, depending on what time he got back and refill Kaida's water jug, but that was about all. It was an unexplainable illness and it seemed to linger. Everyday of that week slurred into the next until she was left with one long blur of a memory. She knew Jak and Daxter came and went. She knew that others also came in to check on her, even though she didn't know who they were.

She didn't really feel anything, but she did realize the lack of feeling, the numbness in her limbs. It was such a strange disease and she wanted it to go away. It was clouding her mind and fuzzing her memory. She had never felt like this before.

Jak had worked everyday, and was beginning to feel a little over worked as the days dragged on, but he forced himself to keep doing the dirty work. In the two years he had spent in prison, he had never felt worried. Fear of his own death, intense hatred, loneliness maybe, but never worry. And for once, he was worried about someone other then Daxter. Kaida was sick, and he didn't know what from and if it would get better, or how to make it better. He had never needed to take care of anyone, since Samos, back in the village, took care of that. Jak himself, rarely if ever, got sick. Kaida too, wasn't from around here, neither was he but that was beside the point.

Where ever she came from, maybe this was a serious problem, maybe she knew how to cure it but couldn't explain how. He hadn't learned a lot about her, despite the time they had spent in prison. The longer she had stayed there, the less she had talked. Besides, they had always been concerned with the idea of, 'Will I live until tomorrow?'.

The day he had come back reeking of the sewers he had found Kaida murmuring in her sleep. There was little to nothing that he could understand but it only added to the mystery. However, he did not have much time to think about any of it. He was busy with missions, partly self inflicted to keep his mind from worrying, and collecting skull gems for the Oracle. It was mission after mission, and Torn never seemed to ease up, and the city never seemed to take a break. He sighed as he entered the bunk area. It was the first day all week that he had finished while there was still day light. Jak looked around the room and saw that it was empty as usual. He wandered over to his own bunk, or in any case, the one he called his. He looked down at the sleeping figure in the bottom bunk. Kaida was asleep every time he came back and it caused a spark of worry, though he knew that she did wake up.

"She's been sick for a week, shouldn't we, I don't know, find a doctor or something?" Daxter asked calmly from Jak's shoulder. After a while, even Daxter had started to care. Jak frowned.

"I don't know if I would trust the doctors in this city. Besides, this isnt something that can be cured with those packs the KG carry." On the third day of Kaida's illness they gave her some of the eco from the KG packs, but it did nothing for her. Now going on her 6th day, it had crossed Jak's mind once or twice to see if there was a healer or doctor or anything around here, but remembering the memories of the 'care' they received in the prison still haunted him and pushed that idea away from his mind.

"I think she'll be fine." He responded as he turned away and removed his boots. "She's been through worse stuff in prison, I don't think something like this will get her." At least he hoped so. Aside from Daxter, Kaida was the only person he had left he could and would trust. In the darkness and pain in prison she had been the only one that kept him from going insane, and he was sure, he did the same for her.

Darkness was the first thing that her eyes registered at first. Then a light that seemed disgustingly bright forced her to squint. When at last she was able to adjust her eyes, she realized that the room was actually dim, and what she was seeing was the lights used to illuminate the underground's bunk area. She blinked again as a pair of blue eyes came into her range of vision. She blinked, waiting for her sluggish brain to kick in. A furry orange head popped into view, and her brain finally caught up to speed.

"Shouldn't you be gone?" Kaida's hoarse voice rasped from coughing, heaving and the lack of use.

"No, its fairly early in the morning. This is the first time all week that you have been up at a normal time, or at a time when we've been around." Jak responded.

"A week?" Kaida blinked. Everyday was a slur and to her it could have been an hour or a month.

"Yup, you've been out for 7 days. You've been laying on your lazy ass, while _we_ have been working _our _asses off." Daxter complained/boasted. Kaida managed a glare at him and pushed herself to a sitting position. To her surprise, nothing spun, and the world remained in focus. Kaida looked over at Jak who had taken a seat on the bed next to hers.

"What have I missed?" She asked, still getting used to her voice.

"Not much on the important side." Jak responded nonchalantly. Daxter however, wasn't going to pass up this chance to boast.

"Well, let me tell you, you lazy ass, we've done a lot while you were just hanging around. We had to face deadly turret guns in the sewers full to the brim with metal heads! Risked life and limb for so many other missions like that, my head started to spin! Speaking of spinning, we met this wacko crackpot spazz named Vin. We had to save him for Tattoo Face, out there, and the freak nearly shot us full of holes!" Daxter added inflection to his words to make it seem incredibly dangerous. Inside, Kaida chuckled. She knew Vin was spazmatic and she knew how those sewers had been. The only interesting part was the vague mention of other missions. Nothing, that she could remember, happened in that time according to the game storyline.

"Anyway," Jak decided to add, "now we have to race to the stadium so we can be part of this racing team or something." Jak sighed and looked half tired, and half irritated. Kaida smiled slightly. This is where Jak would meet Keira for the first time after two years. Though they wouldn't recognize each other at first, they would soon after.

Kaida looked around for her boots and saw that whoever did laundry, had finally brought back her original new outfit. She pushed back the covers and made to get up, but Jak put a hand on her shoulder and kept her sitting.

"I don't think you should get up yet. You might still be sick." Jak said seriously. Kaida shook her head and felt her forehead before moving Jak's hand from her shoulder to her head so he could feel her lack of a fever. She was also no longer sweating and regained most of her minimal color. Jak couldn't feel a fever, and he was extremely when Kaida got to her feet and walked straight for her clothes with out even looking as if she was tired. Nothing about her suggested that she had been sick except for the signs that she had been in bed for a long period of time.

She picked out a red shirt in the same style that her first one had been, and a pair of black pants. She snatched up a towel and walked back over to Jak.

"Are you leaving?" She asked.

"Not right away. Its early and I am going to take my time before I go and try to beat that timed race to the Stadium." He responded, "Why?"

"Just wondering. Gonna take a shower." Kaida smiled and headed to the showers. As it turned out, the showers were empty again, but she didn't want to risk it so her took a hurried shower, mostly fixing her hair and washing her sweat off. By the time she finished and was dressed again Jak had left.

Kaida sighed, not that she had actually expected to find him waiting but it would have been nice to have the company. She wandered into the other room where she knew there would be some food waiting for the members to eat. She snatched up a bread and a piece of fruit. She sat down on her bed and enjoyed actually being able to taste her food before it ended up down her throat.

Once her hunger had been satisfied she laced up her boot, grabbed up her pack of gems and exited the hideout before Torn caught sight of her and could give her a mission. In a short time she ended up in the water slums and stood before the door to the Oracle. She touched the pack on her waist and stepped through the door into the House of the Oracle.

Hope you guys like this chapter. It's a bit longer then the others I think. I hope it isnt too boring or anything! Thanks! R & R!


	13. Ashelin

Once her hunger had been satisfied she laced up her boot, grabbed up her pack of gems and exited the hideout before Torn caught sight of her and could give her a mission. In a short time she ended up in the water slums and stood before the door to the Oracle. She touched the pack on her waist and stepped through the door into the House of the Oracle.

* * *

As it had been before, the room was full of burning candles that seemed to never get lower. In fact, for a moment or two she wondered if they were even hot. 

"Greetings Traveler." The deep voice, that caused Kaida shudders, sounded around the room. "I see you have brought skull gems as I requested. You do well in your quest." A force seemed to pull the gems from her pouch and into the mouth of the oracle. "25 Skull gems, and as promised I will help you to control that darkness which you fear."

With that, a surge of power arched from the statue of the Oracle to her body. She felt herself lifted from the ground and the energy slipped into her body. She felt the darkness ebb and shrink into a contained space within her body. She felt the pain and the madness slip out of her limbs. But even as it came under control, Kaida still felt the staggering weight of the darkness on her soul. The last surge of power from the Oracle set loose the dark energy into the rest of her body and she felt the sudden strength and acute awareness overtake her.

She stood on the clean floor and knew without looking that she had changed. She knew before she looked at her hands, that they would be pale and clawed. She took a step forward, not sure why, but she did so none the less. Slowly it crept into her mind that there was no haunting voice laughing in her head as her body was hijacked. She had control of her body. She was so engrossed in this revelation that she almost missed the Oracle speaking.

"You now have control of your raging shadow. I have also gifted you with your new power." The deep voice commanded her attention. "Use it to continue your quest, and I shall summon you when I have news of your world." The ringing tones went silent and Kaida was left with a strange welling of power. She concentrated on forcing the power to recede back into its containment and to her greatest surprise, it did.

She left the water slums with a lighter pack and a bit better look on her situation. As she walked through the slums she noted a group of people gathering and she headed over to see what the commotion was. A shot rang out and Kaida broke into a run over to the group as some people screamed and moved away. The sound of more shots being fired came over the sounds of the crowd. Kaida shoved her way through the crowd to see what was going on and to her surprise there was a group of Krimson Guards surrounding and a severely aggravated Torn. Had Kaida still been moving she would have tripped.

What in the hell was he doing here? True, she didn't expect him to never leave the underground, but why the hell was he here? And in a fight, of all things. He was doing well considering he was up against a fairly large group of guards with just his small handguns as projectile weapons. However, 'well' was subject to relativity, and in this case, that meant it was a strong possibility that Torn was going to have his ass kicked. Still, she didn't really feel she would be a whole lot of help to him so she just watched to see how things would progress.

Torn was soon backed into the wall and random gunshots were fired from mostly Torn, but the guards too had decided that this had gone on long enough and were making their move for Torn. Even if Kaida wasn't needed, she couldn't help the feeling that it was in Torn's best interest that she do something. She quickly shoved through the last few of the people in front of her and drew her gun. However, to avoid any further attention she merely used it to slam into the side of a KG's head. He slumped to the ground and she instantly had the attention of the rest of the guards. Torn only looked at her for a moment before taking his chance and firing on the rest of the guards.

The KG now had their attention spit, though there was still more of them, and thus had the upper hand. Though Kaida now possessed more strength and muscle then she had in her own world, she still felt the same, and wasn't brash enough to attempt anything fancy or all out in a fight. However, she had done some martial arts, and used her new abilities to send the KG to the ground one at a time. Unfortunately the guards were not in the mood to be taken down by a girl and the much sought after leader of the Underground. Torn fired at every Krimson Guard until they were down for good.

The Guards became less aware of the crowd and their ricocheting shots struck a few bystanders in the crowd, causing them to disperse in a mass of running bodies. At last Kaida's system of taking down her opponents one at a time was lost. A guard came from behind and grabbed her and that was it. She shot the guard in front and elbowed the guy behind her in the face. Luckily, that was the last of the KG. Only 2 remained and, seeing their chances dropping by the second, decided to make a run for it. Once assured that the guards were gone, Torn put away his guns and glanced at Kaida. She was carefully placing her gun safely into its holster.

He let out a growl, only loud enough to be heard if you were listening for it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to thank her or not. He was sure that he should, but this was Torn we are talking about. Leader of the Underground with a whole operation under his command, yeah, real hot shit. Kaida spoke first and Torn lost his train of thought.

"That mess...How?" Kaida spoke up quiet enough that people didn't feel the need to start eavesdropping, but loud enough to demand a response.

"How did I get into that?" Torn elaborated on her question, before he fell silent, thinking of how best to respond to that without sounding pathetic. He decided that the truth was about as good as anything he was going to come up with.

"There was a device jamming the radio frequencies to the hideout. No one was at the hideout and I obviously couldn't call for someone to take out the radio disrupter, so I had to go out and do it myself." Torn sounded as disgruntled and raw as always. Both Kaida and Torn looked up and suddenly noticed that they were walking at a rather brisk pace in the direction of the hideout. Neither was exactly sure when they had begun to move.

Torn said nothing more but picked up his pace, eager to get back to the hideout and see if there was any important information that he had missed while the radio had been out. Kaida fell slightly behind but quickly kept pace with him (though still a step behind). She took these few moments to get a good look at Torn. (A/n: not like that you pervs! I know what you are thinking!)

As with almost everything here, Kaida was eager to get a good look in real life. For as wonderful and descriptive the game had been, it did no justice to the real thing. Torn was tall and lanky, Kaida's chin only coming to Torn's shoulder. His tattoos seemed almost a natural part of skin as they were perfectly symmetrical and followed the curves of his face and ears. She noted they also disappeared into the scarf on his neck and she wondered how many he had, then shuddered when she thought of how painful getting that many tattoos must have been. If one gave him a good look it was obvious that he was not a very old individual. War worn and tired yes, but not particularly old.

His eyes, especially, held a look only a person still kicking with youth could. Torn was jaded, sure, but not old. His red dreadlocked hair wasn't cemented down, as it seemed in the game but actually moved around and every now and then Torn would have to push a piece back behind his long ears. His clothes were well worn and obviously had a lived-in comfort, and yet were also obviously well washed. She hadn't been free of prison for more then a month or two, yet she had never seen Torn dressed in anything other then what he currently had on. This sent her mind onto a road for possibly dirty thoughts but she shook her head, deciding that his was not the time, nor the place.

She had to concentrate. Even if she want on a mission now, she had to keep her mind on what she was doing. Torn kept his stride long. He knew he had several important people out on important missions and they might need help or they might have new infromation and he knew he needed to get back to the hideout as soon as he could. There was a nagging voice in the back of his mind, telling him to take a zoomer, but something was also telling that he couldn't just leave Kaida like that, since she had just gave him a good deal of assistance.

He noticed she didn't say anything when he had quickened his pace; she had merely sped and matched it. In fact, when he thought about it, she didn't say a whole lot ever. He briefly wondered if she talked to Jak more then she did with everyone else, but then figured probably not since that orange rat probably did enough talking for both of them. Torn had seen people of every type in this city, but he had never seen anyone like her. She had come from the prison, yet she wasn't stark raving mad, and she didn't have and physical scars so far as he could see. However, Jak really didn't have many either, but that was beside the point, he was different too.

Kaida's hair color was extremely odd, and he would have thought it unnatural if it wasn't for the fact that it was growing out that way. He couldn't help frowning as he thought about her. She was part of the Underground and therefore worked for him, and yet he didn't know a whole lot about her. Normally this would have made him uneasy about giving her missions, yet the few that he had sent her on, she had come back in good time and without fail. The fact that she didn't talk a lot really didn't help, and the other simple fact that Torn himself was not much of a person to start conversations wasn't exactly helping it all along. Even for all the time Kaida spent in the hideout he still didn't know a whole lot. He knew that for the last week she had been laid up, sick. But he hadn't known until he saw her walk out of the hideout that she had gotten better. He had no idea what she had gotten sick with and how it had been treated. He really knew very little.

He continued to frown and attempted to get his thoughts off things that did not concern the problem/task at hand. Kaida was still following him and Torn noticed out of the corner of his eye a blue hologram standing innocently against a wall, unnoticed by the citizens. He suddenly diverted from his path and Kaida, startled, followed. He stepped up to it and touched the blue hologram. He put in a code and the hologram turned green and the symbol of the Underground appeared. Torn turned to Kaida.

"I don't have a real mission at the moment for you, so I want you to do a few of these. They are tests I use to keep Underground people sharp. I've unlocked this one for you, if you complete it, you will get a reward and other will be opened for you. If you fail, well, then you should polish up your skills before coming back to the Underground." He turned and strode away from her. In his strange little way, this was how he was thanking Kaida for saving him.

Kaida looked after Torn for a moment before she looked back at the screen he had unlocked for her. She carefully reached out and touched the symbol of the Underground and Torn's voice suddenly came over the speakers.

"Get to this place before the time runs out and maybe you have what it takes to be in the Underground." Though the voice was recorded it was obviously Torn being sincere. A picture of a special precursor orb and a small snap shot of a place flashed onto the screen for a long moment before it disappeared and a timer displaying a clock of 15 seconds appeared. It began to count down and Kaida racked her brain for the location. The orb had been in a corner, and a poster had been next to it on the wall. The poster was of a Krimson Guard. Suddenly she had it and ran off in search of the place. Kaida counted down in her head as she raced for the orb. She turned the corner and she could see the suns glint off of it. She dove for it and heard the mechanisms click. The false orb clicked and sent a message to her communicator.

"Nice job, maybe you do have some skill." Again, Kaida could tell that it was Torn's pre-recorded voice, but the praise was felt just the same. The false orb fell away and 3 real orbs sat, cold, in her hands. Kaida slipped them into her pack. They were money here, though she wasn't sure exactly where to spend them, and she knew they would most likely come in handy later. She wasn't in any sort of hurry and she wandered the streets slowly in search of another test. She found a few more, and some of them were harder then others, but in the end she had a nice pack of precursor orbs. She began to head back to the hideout, her good mood still hanging around her like an aura. She came around a tight corner and staggered back after running into someone. She blinked and looked up to see Jak catching his balance as well.

"Jak! Watch where you are going buddy! Look, I know you are a bit upset at the moment but that is no reason to run people over!" Daxter reprimanded.

"Jak?" Kaida spoke up in a tone wondering if he was ok.

"I am fine." he spoke gruffly, seeming to ignore Daxter, but still taking in what he had said. Jak had a distracted and agitated look on his face, similar in part to the look Torn had right after Kaida had helped him with the KG. Kaida began to walk with Jak as they all headed back to the hideout.

"Jak, why...?" Kaida used her skill of few words and a tone to ask what had happened. Jak gave her a look, still smothered in distracted agitation.

"Krew wants me to race to the stadium and try and join up with some racing team." His voice carried the same thing his face displayed.

"And?" Kaida prompted. She knew well about this. Keira was at the stadium. Neither party would recognize each other, but it would still be an interesting.

"And... I couldn't make it. The distance is to far. The slums and the industrial district are way to twisting. There is no way to make it." Again, Kaida knew about this. The best, and as far as she could tell, the only way to win that challenge was to get the pass into another part of the city first, that would cut the distance substantially. She put a hand on his shoulder for just a moment, meant as a comforting gesture.

"This is just so frustrating, Kai." Jak fell back into a brooding quiet. Kaida blinked at the nickname but shook it off and they walked back to the hideout in silence. Even Daxter had remained quiet. The entered and walked down the stairs. Torn was, as usual, at his desk again, with a set of maps placed out in front of him. The lamp overhead was swinging gently and he looked a bit anxious, but mostly irritated.

Daxter jumped down onto the table and looked down at the maps. At the sight of the trio, Torn stood up and began to talk.

"One of my old guard comrades was sent to the pumping station. There's been no word from the patrol, and after what you guys ran into out there, I'm afraid she may need some help." As Torn spoke Daxter insisted on making faces as the light swung. Jak, who had listened to what Torn was saying without giving any attention to Daxter, spoke up with a slight surprise.

"Did you say 'She'?"

Torn's tone instantly harshed into an ice. "Don't even think about it!" Finally Torn had it with Daxter and grasped the swinging light and rounded on him, looking ready to hit him. "Stop that! This is important you MORON !" Daxter had the strangest mix of fear and an irritatingly mischievous grin on his face.

"That's right! Don't mess with the sugar!" Torn snarled at Daxter, before turning back to Jak.

"This 'friend' of mine has helped the underground many times before. Go back to the pumping station and take a look around. Render assistance if needed." His voice was serious and he turned on Daxter again, with a look that clearly said I'll-kill-you-if-you-make-another-stupid-comment. Jak's frowned at Torn. He really wanted to beat that race into the stadium and he nearly opened his mouth to say so but Kaida nudged him. He blinked at her in inner surprise. She hadn't said anything.

"Now, get your squirrelly ass outta here!" Torn sent a dark look around the room to all three of them, and Kaida, who had been wondering if he had meant her too, was instantly reassured. The trio turned and stepped out into the streets once more. Jak looked to Kaida who was looking out at the wide street like area for a free zoomer.

"Why did you nudge me in there?" He spoke up. Jak new that this was going to be a bit of a roundabout way of getting the answer he wanted, and that was weather or not she had known what he was going to say. Kaida turned her attention back onto Jak.

"You would have argued" was her simple answer.

"So what if I would have? I want to pass that race. I can't take not winning. There is no room for failing. Besides, I agreed to help, not be his dog to jump whenever he wants me to." Jak still sounded so full of agitation and irritation at failing the time challenge.

"Its faster this way" was all the raven-blonde said. Jak would have spoken up, but he had a feeling that she had just answered his question.

"Well, at least this way I wont be completely wind-blown. Too much of that and this handsome face might start to age." Daxter stated a bit melodramatically. Kaida felt an urge to roll her eyes but fought it off and settled for a small grin. Kaida watched as an Underground soldier landed near the hideout and dismounted his small, single person zoomer. She watched him walk past her and out of site. Once out of the way, she stepped forward and mounted the zoomer.

Jak gave her a quick look and watched the stream of traffic over his head. Once he picked out the zoomer that would match the speed of Kaida's he jumped easily into the air and knocked the rider off. He revved the engine and set off towards the pipe that would lead out to the pumping station. Kaida was careful to stay close behind Jak and follow him as he made a path through the streams of traffic.

Once they arrived at the pipe in the outer wall they dismounted and walked through into the outskirts. No one spoke, not even Daxter, as they started their walk across the sand. Kaida was worried about saying anything that might cause any more suspicion or confusion than there already was. Jak was silent in thought. He hated not knowing something that seemed as important as this, and it was bothering him. And Daxter simply knew when his comments would not be met with enthusiasm. The party kept their sensitive ears tuned to the sounds of approaching metal heads, and ran into a few non-metal head creatures along the way.

They followed the path they had originally taken to the water valve for the slums. The sound of the water splashing the rocks was almost peaceful in the, otherwise, silence of the trip. Kaida paused for just a moment and looked out at the bright ocean where the green moon/sun was casting its hazy color through the smog cloud that hung over the city. She took a step to the edge of the cliff to look out at the scene, feeling strangely drawn to do so. Jak turned when he heard her footsteps go quiet momentarily. He turned just in time to see the ground at the edge of the cliff collapse, taking Kaida with it. Kaida let out a short yelp as she fell in a heap to the beach.

"Kaida!" Jak let out a yell and ran to the edge of the cliff, though careful not to get taken in another landslide. Aside from the small amount of dirt that grew sparse plant life, there was only the sheer stone cliff face. The stone face was vertical or nearly so, and about 20 or 30 feet high.

"Kaida are you alright?" Jak called down to the body slumped on a sand pile. Luckily the earth that had fallen had been soft, like the sands below, so the fall had not been as severe. Kaida carefully lifted her head and blinked, waiting for her head to clear.

"Kaida!" She turned her head skyward as her name drifted to her ears. She let out a small moan and pulled herself to her feet.

"Are you alright?" Jak yelled down again. Kaida waved back up at him to signal that she was ok. "I am going to find a way down to help you." As he spoke he began to look along the edge of the cliff to find a way down.

"No!" She called up to him and shook her head. "Find the soldier!" Kaida nearly gave Ashelin's name but caught herself at the last moment. "I'll catch up!"

Jak paused for a moment, considering. He was still worried about the week of sickness she had just gotten over. The fact that metal heads lived on these beaches was rather obvious. He really couldn't help feeling nervous about leaving her down on the beach.

"Are you sure?" Jak called. Kaida gave him another wave and began to walk back along the cliff's base, looking for a way up. She looked back over her shoulder to see Jak walking out off sight from the cliff edge. Kaida looked up the sheer cliff face as she walked, and she could not see a way up. She knew that if she walked back far enough that she would come to the beach leading to the pipe in the city wall. From there she could start again and reach the place where Jak would meet Ashelin. She sighed and picked up her pace.

Jak walked quickly along the path that wound around the small piece of island that the pumping station was located on. The sooner he found this batty old woman the sooner he could make sure that Kaida was still ok, and the sooner he could get back to beating that timed race. His face hardened as a KG hellcat came into view. He looked around the small clearing for any signs of people.

"Ehh, what the heck are we doing risking our lives to rescue some old Crimson guard hag anyway?" Daxter commented as his boredom leaked out. "She's probably got more facial hair than me." A branch shook and suddenly a figure dropped down from the trees and grabbed Jak from behind. Daxter had jumped from Jak's shoulder the moment Jak had been grabbed and now had a cheeky expression on his face as he looked the KG up and down. The leather-clad female had Jak by the throat and, due to her lesser height, was forcing him to lean back.

"Who the hell are you?" She demanded, using her gun to enforce the point. Of course, in the face of this situation, Daxter did just what he was famous for: made unnecessary and potentially dangerous comments.

"Mmmm, I do love a woman in uniform. Wanna bark some orders at me? Woof… woof…I am your soldier on the front lies of loooove. Waiter, foxhole for two!" Ashelin had enough of the small rat, her temper with the ottsel seeming only half of Torn's matchstick of patience.

"Keep talking like that and I'll raise your voice a couple of octaves." The redhead released Jak and now had her gun pointed squarely at Daxter's lower half. Jak sucked in air and coughed quietly. He rubbed his throat momentarily then turned to the issue at hand.

"Easy…" he began, "Torn asked us to help you."

"I don't need help." She replied "but you might." She motioned with her head to something behind him. "We've got company." And sure enough, there was a mess of various metal heads coming out of the forest. Ashelin pulled out and loaded her pistol and charged the metal heads dead on. Jak watched her dodge the metal heads and fire on them at point blank. Unfortunately this strategy was only so good against a large group of metal heads that were easily double her size. So Jak loaded his gun and fired at the metal heads closest to Ashelin. Even still, she got knocked aside from behind and obviously had a few wounds from other swipes.

Jak grit his teeth when he ran out of long-range ammo and switched the mod on his gun and jumped into the thick. None of the weapons that the metal heads had were long-range, but they had a tendency to get up close in short amount of time. Jak and Ashelin kept shooting for what seemed like forever. Jak looked down at his gun and noted that his ammo was steadily getting low. The woman, too, he had noticed change the clip of ammo in her gun. Jak took a small step back and grit his teeth again.

Suddenly a third shot sounded and metal heads that had been weakened, dropped to the ground. He looked up and saw Kaida, with a serious face, taking out every metal head in the place. Ashelin too, noted the girl but did nothing about it. The girl was shooting the metal heads and obviously wasn't part of the KG so she was in no way a spy. Finally the last dropped dead. Kaida returned her gun to its holster and looked to Ashelin and Jak. Ashelin merely gave a nod of gratitude and walked over to her hellcat.

"Watching me take care of those metal heads was, ahh, pretty exciting… eh sweet cheeks?" She turned back as she started up her zoomer. Daxter pushed against the heavy warm draft coming from the engines of the vehicle. "Hey, sweet stripes, gimmie them digits so I can look you up some time. Well party hard, big city style." Ashelin however paid no attention to the small orange animal.

"Tell Torn Baron Praxis is planning something big. I think it has to do with that seal." She pointed to a small stone jutting from the ground with a large red symbol. Jak looked at it quickly before he turned back to guarding his face from the waves of sand that blocked Ashelin from his sight.

"What is it?"

"It's the seal of the house of Mar, the founder of Haven city. We're being sent out on "suicide missions" to locate artifacts from the time of his rule. If curiosity's worth dying for, you can ask the blind, old soothsayer in the bazaar named Onin. She might know something about all this. Here's my bazaar access security pass." She tossed Jak a small electronic pass that was about the size of a wallet. He opened the pass and saw a picture of the woman along with her name.

"Your name is Ashelin, huh?" Ashelin sat down in her hellcat and prepared to depart.

"We're even now." She gave one last look of the trio and headed back to the city.

"Wow, what a woman!" Daxter let out a purr and looked after the shrinking mark in the sky that was the hellcat. Kaida had only spent a few moments watching Ashelin and Jak talking, before she had turned to another more important task. Knowing everything that was going to happen was always a bonus with these sorts of situations. Kaida had spent the time carefully removing skull gems from the fallen metal heads. She had become much more efficient at it and no long left gory, headless messes behind.

Jak looked after Ashelin for a short time before he turned and went to collecting skull gems as well. He had noticed that Kaida had already done a thorough job with almost half the metal heads while he had been talking to Ashelin, but he didn't say anything. Daxter found little interest in watching them collect skull gems and curled up on a plant and hummed while he allowed thoughts of Ashelin that would have gotten him shot, to flood his mind. With nothing else to do once they had finished, the walk back to the city was as silent as the walk from the city had been. As they stepped through the large airlock doors that lead to the city, Kaida felt the need to speak.

"Jak, I'll go tell Torn. You go race. Use the bazaar pass." She spoke quietly and her few words held more a question then a command. Nonetheless, Jak said nothing and nodded. Kaida personally hated the silence that they were cultivating. She hated not talking more, but she couldn't bring herself to speak. She hated Jak not talking because he was a hard enough book to read _with _words, and she desperately wanted to feel like she was actually wanted around. Lastly, she hated when Daxter wasn't talking, because as much as he was obnoxious, he often eased the mood and made everything seem funnier.

Jak and Kaida both took zoomers and headed off in their own directions and Kaida was given a moment to think. So much had happened in one day, even if half of it was expected. About half way to the hideout she suddenly stopped her zoomer and got off. She couldn't stand the fact that she was thinking. Right now, at this particular moment, thinking was hurting. She walked off into the darker alleyways looking for an activated hologram from Torn so she could do something and have her mind taken off things for the moment. After a few hours spent running around the slums and few precursor orbs later, Kaida walked slowly back towards the hideout. She kicked at stones and rubble in the streets as she walked. She couldn't help losing herself in the strangest feeling she got from this place.

She inhaled the warm air in an attempt to get a clean breath, but she knew she had a better chance of that if she stuck her head under water. She spat on the pavement, the taste of the dirty, mineral filled air filling her mouth. She ran her hands over her tied back hair and let them rest behind her head. Her wrists brushed her ears and she suddenly felt a strange feeling in her mind. But right now, she didn't want to think so she just continued walking. She came back to herself and realized that she was standing in front of the entrance to the hideout. She looked up at the ugly green symbol that had been painted on the door. She wrinkled her nose and sat down with her back to the wall, facing the door. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The sounds of the nonstop city floated around and she almost missed the grinding noise of the secret door opening. She looked up to see a most familiar blonde and unforgettable orange sidekick.

"Hey, we were just coming to look for you! What's the big idea; taking a nap out side the door?" Daxter demanded with his short arms crossed. Kaida couldn't help but feel a little surprised and Jak seemed to notice that.

"We already talked to Torn, so don't worry about that. I decided to wait until tomorrow to try and race again, so we came almost straight back here." Jak spoke up calmly. "Come on, let's go inside." He held out a hand and Kaida took it. Jak pulled her to her feet and they turned back into the hideout. She followed Jak down the stairs and into the hideout. Torn was pouring over some papers on his desk and didn't even seem to notice them as they walked past quietly. Once they had passed through the hall into the bunk area Jak spoke up.

"Krew wants a job done tomorrow. He needs some money collected and he needs a new…employee. He pays good for the most part."

"Even though he is big enough to need is own license plate." Added Daxter. Kaida looked up at Jak and nodded.

"I'll see him tomorrow." Kaida replied. Eventually the smell of food made its way to her and it only took her a moment to make up her mind before she began to follow the smell hungrily to its source. Who ever cooked for the hideout seemed to remain a secret because no one could say who actually did. There was one meal a day provided for the hideout. However, unlike the prison meals, the food here was meant to keep the agents in good health, rather then just alive. A single table was set out with food for all the regular residents of the hideout, including various fruits, meats, breads and water.

Jak and Daxter had gone to sit down on his bunk and continue to do what he had been doing. He lay on the top bunk and stared at the ceiling and began to think. He had attempted to interrupt himself by heading out to find Kaida but she had turned out to only be just outside the door so he was back where he had started. He closed his blue eyes and let a light frown cross his face. Daxter had curled up at the side of the bed and decided to get some 'beauty sleep'. He knew there was little that could be done about it but right at the moment life really sucked. He didn't really want to go into specifics because he knew that it would only make him angrier, and he really didn't feel like working himself up. He opened his eyes and blinked at the ceiling when he heard a tapping noise.

He turned and saw Kaida tapping carefully on the wood post of the bunk bed. When he looked fully at her, she smiled and held up a plate full of food. Jak sat up completely and took the plate carefully. Jak looked and at first felt he wasn't hungry, but as he placed a bite of fruit in his mouth he realized how hungry he actually was. He finished his fruit in record time, enjoying it thoroughly. Kaida kicked off her boots and swung her legs up onto the bed. She had only bothered to grab a few items and was finished fairly quickly and set her plate on the floor.

Kaida looked up at the bunk above her for a moment before she closed her eyes. A frown crossed her eyes and she sat up and removed the tie from her hair. Black and blonde hair fell loosely on her back and combed her fingers through her hair, smoothing it. She let her fingers run to the ends of her ears and felt the silver earrings she still had in her long ears. She fingered the small silver hoops for a moment before she removed on of them and inspected it. She still felt her surprise that after all that had happened to her, the sliver earrings were still intact. The sliver was inscribed in simple but attractive designs. She placed the earring back into her ear and reached for the tips. A year with her new ears, hair and abilities and she still couldn't believe that it was true. She closed her eyes and before she even had time to notice, she fell asleep.

* * *

Ok, yeah this is a bit of a blah blah blah chapter but I promise it will get better. A few important things happen here, but its a lot of talk. I am probably going to have a time skip after or during the next chapter. Some important information is coming up in the next chapter, so stay tuned! 


	14. Time

She fingered the small silver hoops for a moment before she removed on of them and inspected it. She still felt her surprise that after all that had happened to her, the sliver earrings were still intact. The sliver was inscribed in simple but attractive designs. She placed the earring back into her ear and reached for the tips. A year with her new ears, hair and abilities and she still couldn't believe that it was true. She closed her eyes and before she even had time to notice, she fell asleep.

_

* * *

_

_The sound of the four girls laughing sounded through the silent house. The four were laying in sleeping bags on the floor of the living room next to a huge set of cathedral style windows. The view was breath taking, with the full view of a forest and lake. A full moon lit the sky and that was all the light the group needed. The moon glinted off the latke and cast a glow on the mists floating in and out of the forest._

"_Ok, lets do you next, Kaida,__" __said one of the girls once the giggling had subsided._

"_Alright.__" __Replied the raven. A blonde girl with short hair opened a thick book to the index._

"_Ok, what is your birth sign?"_

"_Duh, Elle, you should know this. I am a libra."_

"_Libra, lets see… wow!__There is a big section on you!__It says 'The Libra is the only inanimate star sign. You are the scales of the universe and you keep the cosmos in balance. You affect everything you do. Your other symbols include the Yin Yang, Sun and Moon, and your elements are Fire and Water. Though you are usually in perfect balance and keep the universe as such, beware the upset. The Libra is extremely powerful, so beware the Scales when the balance is tipped.' It goes on to explain your other traits and stuff, but wow!__That is interesting!_

"_Ha ha, you guys had better watch out then! I__ am the most awesome sign!__" "__Yeah yeah, ok, now its time for the next part." The blonde handed a lit candle to the raven and she carefully tipped it into a bowl of water. The bright moon caught its light in the pool and Kaida poured the liquid wax from the candle into the cold pool. There was a plunk and the four friends leaned in to see what shape would appear. The lump of, now, solid wax floated to the surface. A strange shape appeared in the light of the candle, crossed with the moon._

"_I am not sure what it is. Lets look in the book. It should say something about your future." They looked frantically through the many pages. Kaida looked back at it and tilted her head and for a moment in the dim light of the candle reflected on the water, the wax shape seemed as if it was missing a part. It seemed as if the whole drop was just part of something else. She looked into the water and a face looked back. It should have been the happy young girl in pajamas looking back, but somehow, the face had black and gold hair._

A thunk woke the sleeping girl. Jak had pulled on his boots and tripped as he walked. It had been an akward moment for the usually sturdy hero. Kaida blinked in the dim light and curled herself into a ball under her thin sheets. Her dream had been a memory from her last birthday. Well, her last birthday in her world anyway. They had used a book she had gotten as a present to predict their futures and learn about their star signs. They had stayed up late into the night and slept for long hours in the morning. It had been a great day.

Kaida curled tighter and a single tear clouded her eye. She felt a hand on her arm and she made sure the tears were no longer in her eyes and turned over to see who was there. Jak stood over her and carefully got her attention.

"Hey, lets go. You want that job or not?" Jak's voice was quiet enough to not wake others but loud enough to get his point across. Kaida tightened her ball for a moment, but soon set a cold frown on her face and sat up.

"Good. C'mon." Jak placed his gun on his back and headed out into the front area of the hideout. Kaida quickly straightened her shirt and yanked on her boots and practically ran after him. She was still clumsily shoving her gun back into its holster as she hurried into the front room. Jak let his hard face soften just a little at how quickly she had gotten ready. He had a little sick sad laugh in his head as he thought about how eager she would be the next time she found out she had to go work for Krew.

There was, surprisingly, silence on the way to the bar, as Daxter seemed to have left his energy back at the hideout.. As they slowed and stopped at their destination, the wind caught up with them and Kaida frowned as she tossed her head in an attempt to rid her face of the hair she hadn't had time to tie up. They walked up to the door and Kaida tossed her hair one more time as they entered the bar. The smell of cigar smoke and beer instantly hit her. They walked around the roped off area in the center of the bar and Kaida glanced at it, still not quite understanding its purpose. It looked suspiciously like a cross between a boxing ring and a poll dancing spot.

They had barely entered the bar before Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and began talking with the blonde girl behind the counter. As the remaining pair finally reached the bar, they over heard parts of the conversation.

"I'm Tess. Torn sent me to spy on Krew. Play along and I may be able to get my hands on a few of Krew's secrets." The blonde spoke in hushed tones. Daxter said something but the attention of the pair was not on the small orange animal. The sound of whooshing air hit their ears and Kaida turned and nearly stumbled backwards. Krew had come floating over to the pair that just entered his bar. Kaida couldn't help noticing that, despite his enormously large body, his skinny little legs were dangling like useless twigs from the bottom of his hovering chair. Krew smelled strongly of the smoke of the bar and sweat, and Kaida had to resist turning her nose at him.

"Got a new little recruit for me, ey?" Krew looked her up and down briefly."I don't know what she's good for but I've got a little test." Daxter chose this moment to appear in their conversation, however at the moment he was...

"Hey there, five chins, how's crimes?" stone drunk. Daxter swayed on the counter as he fought to keep his vision focused. Krew watched with a gruesome face.

"What's his problem, 'ey?" He asked with a disgusted tone.

"Nothing, I'm fine. Mind your own business" Daxter slurred out and waved his paw/hand at Krew in annoyance. A pause follows before Daxter feels the sudden need to sing. "Sometimes I feel so very..." The off key noise is enough to deafen Krew, Jak and Kaida, and turn them back to their initial conversation.

"Listen, I have six 'clients' around town who are about to make money drops for me." Krew looked directly at Kaida as he spoke. "I need you to collect each money bag as fast as you can and 'take care' of any guards who get curious, mmmnn. Get to a money bag too late and some townie might pick it up." Kaida nodded and Daxter suddenly turned up the volume and interrupted again.

"DRY!" he yelled, finishing his song for the moment. "You know what the trouble with you is, Krew? Ya got no vison. This could be a real swinging joint..." Daxter struggled to keep his words in order and slurred out his sentences. "Hop Heg Hiven with more dancin', more mac'n, more WOMEN!" he managed to get out one last sentence before he tipped over.

"Just collect all fourteen money bags before they disappear and bring them back here. If you lose even one bag, then don't come back, 'eyཀ As for you Jak," Daxter found his way to his feet again and attempted to hug Jak, still sloshed as a fish in a bucket, Krew continued speaking nonetheless. "You still haven't made the racing team time. You had best get back there and finish it ey." Krew gave a disgusted look to Daxter and drifted off to do whatever it was he did throughout the day. Kaida paused for just a second then turned to see Jak already heading for the door. Kaida followed him out of the door and knew the clock was ticking for both of them.

They barely said anything to each other before they headed off in their directions. Kaida sat up straight to allow her hair to be blown away from her face, rather than into it. She saw the first 'client' look around suspiciously before carefully placing a small pouch on the ground. At the same moment, out of the corner of her eye, she saw another citizen, do the same thing. She dropped to the lowest level of the zoomer and sped up to where the money bag was. She slowed and leaned over to grab the money. Proud of collecting her first bag she sat back up with a slight smile. Even the smallest things in this real game made her happy.

Normally when she was playing, she wasn't happy until she won, but this was different. Everything here gave her a real sense of accomplishment. Her eyes caught the sight of a citizen making a b-line for the place the second bag of money had dropped at. Kaida shoved the money into her bag and kicked the accelerator to speed towards the money on the ground. She broke and stuck one foot on the ground, using it to pivot the still moving zoomer around in an arch to avoid hitting the wall.

"I'll take that." she said as she grabbed the money off the ground out from under the citizen. The brown haired man looked at her in utter shock.

"Hey!" Was all he had time to say before she was off, seeing the next target. The next few were easy enough, slow down, then pivot and grab the money. A few times she had to out run a pedestrian but other then that, it wasn't too hard. On the tenth, however, the guards has seen the money dropped and one of them was jogging towards the money. It was a straight shot, however, and there was no wall so she decided to take a chance and never slowed down, she just leaned as far as she dared over the zoomer until her fingers brushed the ground and she snatched up the money.

But no body could mistake that the Guard had been going for the money, and she still took it. That meant war. Seconds later, Kaida heard the whirr of two guards on her tail. She wove from side to said gently, and enough that it was hard for the guards to shoot her. Kaida grit her teeth and dove for the next packet of money. Again, she let her fingers brush the ground as she grabbed up the money. For a moment she wished that she had someone like Daxter who could shoot over her shoulder while she drove.

She sped around a corner, looking desperately for the next target. There it was! She swung to the side and grabbed up the next money only seconds after it left the client's hands. 'Three more to go!' she thought and tore through the city, attempting to avoid citizens and dodge shots fired by the growing number of KG following her. Her zoomer jerked and ground against a wall as one of the Guards shots made its mark. She pulled out her own smaller gun and chanced a glance over her shoulder and shot quickly at the guards. She whirled around and replaced the gun in its holder and snatched for the next money pouch.

The last two were much the same and when at last she had them all, she rose to the high level of traffic and lost the KG in the thick crowds. Once she was sure she was free of unwanted attention, she carefully made her way back to the Hip Hog to deliver the money. After dropping the money off and receiving a new gun mod for her self and one to give to Jak as payment for bringing her here, she walked out of the doors and nearly collided with Jak. Daxter appeared to have sobered up a bit. But by the look, or lack thereof, on Jak's face Kaida could tell he had once again failed. Kaida opened her mouth, about to speak. She had noticed that the nice friendship that they had seemed to once have had was flickering into just a grunt and point sort of relationship. She wondered vaguely if Jak had noticed it too, and also began to wonder if she was mostly responsible for the current situation.

She hadn't been able to make her self talk like she used to. She couldn't overcome her nervousness and apprehension about this new place, and she had never said anything about it. Her voice came to her throat when suddenly there came a tug at her mind. Her eyes widened slightly. It was calling her. It was the oracle. When Kaida shut her mouth, Jak was about to open his, but Kaida was quickly to beat him to it.

"I'll see you later." was all she said as she ran off and hopped on the nearest zoomer. Jak felt a sort of anger form in his chest and he paused for a few long moments before he knocked a passing driver from their zoomer and followed the speeding Kaida. Jak had, in fact, noticed that they seemed to talk less. He had thought about it and noticed that Kaida herself was literally talking less. She rarely spoke with her mouth, and more, now, with non verbal skills. But in the recent few days, she didn't do much of that either. But Kaida didn't seem the type to just ditch him. Something was going on. He didn't really care what, but he still wanted to know.

Kaida followed the pull of the oracle, but it wasn't fast enough for her need, and all of her thoughts on safety were lost. She slowed only when she docked the zoomer and ran down the boardwalk into the oracle's house. Jak had followed her carefully and hopped off his zoomer a little ways away from Kaida. In his mind there was no doubt that there had to be some good reason why she was acting the way she was.

"Well she hurried here fast, as if that old tin idol is going to run off somewhere." commented Daxter quietly from Jak's shoulder.

"She's different. Something is up and I want to know what." Jak walked quietly and carefully up to the doors of the oracle. He leaned in gently and attempted to hear what he could.

"I have news for you, traveler." Came the deep rumbling of the oracle.

"Yes, you called me and I came as quickly as I could." Kaida insisted.

"I have much I desire to speak with you about. There are several very pressing matter you need to be made aware of." Kaida sat carefully on the floor and nodded to the oracle to continue. "First, you must know that this concerns your world. Time passes between our two world, yet time does not move as one straight line. The passage of time is a wave, different for each dimension. As of now, these waves are in conflict and therefore the time passage of each world is opposite of the other. For every second that passes in your world, a day, a month, a year could pass in ours. For the moment, then, this time is on your side." Kaida was paying rapt attention.

"For the moment?" she questioned.

"Yes, for it is uncertain how long this phenomenon will last, and soon the time will again align and thus all time spent here will pass there. You could be missing for years in your world."

"B-but then, I have to go back soon! Now!" Kaida felt herself rising in agitation.

"Yes, I agree, the soonest would be best lest you be touched too much by this world. Unfortunately, there is only one way back, yet where that is I cannot say." Kaida felt her knees weaken. It was good that she was not wasting time in her world, but, how long could this last? At the end of the game, the young Samos goes back via warp gate found in the metal head nest. But not even the oracle knew how to send her back.

"Though at this moment, nothing may seem more important, I have more to say. You have already been damaged by this world. You are tainted with darkness. Your soul is a balance, and steadily, now, it is tilting. You must find a way to become, once again, a balance, or at least maintain your current imperfection, no worse." Kaida looked down at her hands, and was afraid to ask.

"What...what will happen if I don't become balanced?"

"Then your soul will be torn and great devastation will take place. This, you cannot allow to happen." Kaida nodded and looked, shakily, at her hands again.

"I am sorry I could not say more, but what I have told you I feel that you should know." It was long moments into a thick silence before Kaida rose and bowed before the statue. She forced her legs to move her body to the exit and out into the world.

Jak stepped back from the door as Kaida confirmed what the Oracle had just said. She was not from this world. Though granted, neither was he, per say, but that did not make it any better. So, he was alone. Completely alone as the only one who was fighting what had been done to him. She was different, she wasn't like him. She didn't want to help anything in this world, she didn't want to help him, Jak figured, Kaida just wanted out. She wanted to go back to her world, where time had stopped and nothing would have changed. Granted, he hadn't told Kaida where he was from, Jak still felt as though she had lied to him. She should have at least told him. They had spent so much time together while she could talk and he couldn't, and Kaida had never said anything. Jak sat back on a post of the dock and ran through his thoughts. Jak wasn't sure how long he sat there in silence but eventually Kaida emerged from the house.

She stopped and blinked at him. Their eyes met and they stared at each other for a moment.

"Jak, what...what are you doing here?" Kaida was the one to brake the silence, but she did not break the stare. Jak was silent, unsure of what exactly he wanted to say. He was angry, he knew that, so what if it was a slightly ill founded anger, it was anger none the less. He wasn't sure, did he want to confront her, or should he defend himself with an explanation to her question. His silence was slightly prolonged and Kaida took a step closer. She could see the look behind his light blue eyes and she didn't like the way he seemed to be having I a rough discussion.

"Jak, you alright? You seem..." she searched for a word to fit her meaning. "Upset," Jak's eyes seemed to flash and in an instant his anger got the bets of him and he jumped to his feet.

"Oh, so you did notice, did you?" His tone was bitter and a bit sharp. "Surprising, since you are so wrapped up in yourself." Kaida was taken aback and could only blink at him for a moment.

"What...what do you mean?" Jak almost fought back a sneer.

"As I you haven't noticed. You don't talk anymore, not the same way you did when we first got out of prison. I wondered why, but now I know you don't talk because you don't need to. You don't need help to get back to your world. And thanks by the way, for telling me about that. You don't really care about this do you? You just want to go back to your world and act like nothing happened." Kaida let it sink in before she found her own anger loosening her tongue.

"Shut up! As if you don't wish the same thing! As if you don't want to forget this place, and everything that's happened! As if you don't wish you could go back! And how dare you talk like you know how I feel! You don't know shit! By the way, I noticed you gave a hell of a try to start talking again." her icy tones even made the fur on Daxter's back stand up.

"Oh and thanks by the way for telling me that you weren't from this world either. I am sorry I didn't spill right then and there!" Jak narrowed his eyes and took her words in. A spark of angry suspicion rose at Kaida's last statement.

"How the hell would you know where I came from? I only know because you said it out loud! I've never said anything, so how would you know?" Kaida knew she had been caught, but she was still angry and all she wanted to do was get out of here.

"It's none of your business! I know and that's all that matters! Don't worry, I wont tell anyone your little secret. Have a nice fucking life!" she spat at Jak, ducked past and ran off. Jak followed her with cold eyes and the kicked the wooden pole he had been sitting on and watched it splinter and crack.

"Easy Jak, calm down." Daxter attempted to calm his friend. Jak took in a shaky breath and did his best to chill. He knew it was a good think she had left when she did, because in the moment before she cursed him, the air had cracked slightly and a small bolt of dark energy had arched between them. Jak ran a hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck in an agitated manner. As he pushed his anger down, he thought harder on what had been said and began to put things together. She was right. Jak did want to go home. It had been un fair of him to say those things to her, because he knew that he wanted the same thing. He knew that he hadn't told her about where he had come from but still. Somewhere, inside, it hurt. Jak didn't know what to do. He needed something to take his mind off this for a while. He headed back for the bar to try again to make it to the stadium, but his heart wasn't really in it.

Kaida ran noisily down the wooden boardwalk, and occasionally she got strange looks from people as she shoved passed, but she didn't even seem to notice. There was a dampness on her face and it chilled her cheeks in the breeze as she ran. It was all to much. She was too normal, too much like the person she had been when she first came. She was too afraid and too home sick. Maybe she should have told Jak, but it didn't matter now, he already knew. Maybe she had begun to ignore him a little but, it was all over now. This was too much for her. She couldn't handle it and she felt herself falling apart from the inside.

This was probably something from what the Oracle had said. Her soul was off balance and so was she. Kaida continued to run until she found that her feet had taken her to a familiar door. She stepped up to the large metal doors and walked through into the ruins known as Dead Town. She let her feet carry her until she was high on a piece of cement. She had violently removed all living creatures that had stood in her way and now she lay on the sun warmed stone and shook. Kaida wasn't sure if she was crying or shaking with anger.

Fairly quickly the heat of the hazy sun dried the tears on her face and she stood, though she still allowed her feet to carry her up through the ruins of Dead Town. Suddenly her skin prickled and she felt energy dance across her surface.

'I think you need to have a talk.' came what seemed to be a voice from nowhere. Kaida felt her self falling and then... a sudden stop.

_She blinked, and found she couldn't see much. The world was dark and dim and it took a while for the meager light to reach out into the rest of her surroundings. She was lying on the streets of the nicer district of the city where the people actually lived. But no one seemed to notice that she was there. It struck her quickly that something wasn't right as she looked around. The air was completely silent. There was no sound. Not even someone walked right past. There was no sound of feet, to talking, no machines, nothing._

_She jumped to her feet, startled and looked wildly around. She took slow steps backwards. None of the faces of the people would come into focus and none of them looked at her. She followed one woman with her eyes and was alarmed to see her disappear, as did the man behind her. She suddenly felt something firm at her back and whirled around. Instantly horror and shock gripped her body. There standing in front of her was her own Dark Kaida._

* * *

happy holidays! And I have a surprise for all of you good little readers! Enjoy! Sorry about the lateness, my computer connection as been down. But here it is! Anyway, yeah, the bit in the beginning really didn't have a whole lot to do with anything, but hey, I didn't feel like taking it out. 


	15. Ousted

_She followed one woman with her eyes and was alarmed to see her disappear, as did the man behind her. She suddenly felt something firm at her back and whirled around. Instantly horror and shock gripped her body. There standing in front of her was her own Dark Kaida._

_Kaida stumbled backwards a few steps at the sight of the dark twin. But even as she looked at the figure in terror, the Dark Kaida merely stood irritated and looked down on her host. The air was still for a long moment before Kaida realized that the other wasn't going to attack her. Behind the creature, Kaida noticed that there were people walking slowly and silently just as there were on this side. None of these other people seemed to notice the girl on the ground or the phantom standing over her. A long moment passed before Dark Kaida's look evolved from irritation into a full sneer of anger._

"_Stand up, weakling." she hissed. In obedience, Kaida jumped to her feet. The entity gave Kaida the once over. "You disgust me. How can you be my body?" she continued to growl._

"_I... it's not _your_ body." Kaida had finally found her voice._

"_It's mine, just as much as it is yours." the darkness defended._

"_No! None of it is yours! You are just some crap that's been put in my body against my will!" Kaida felt a slight rise of anger as she spoke._

"_It's half mine! I am half of you!" Dark Kaida suddenly struck out and swiped a clawed hand, causing Kaida to stumble back in fear. But the Darkness didn't come any closer. She merely inspected her claws before speaking. "You are as stupid as I thought. You didn't hear anything that rusty Oracle said." Dark Kaida growled out._

"_Shut up! I don't understand what you are getting at! Now tell me, where the hell am I?" demanded Kaida. In reality she was getting an idea what the darkness was saying, but that line of thought scared her. If it was true..._

"_I knew you wouldn't believe me." Dark Kaida responded with a look of angry comprehension, but that twisted to a smirk. "Why would you, I am a creature formed of all of your anger, jealously and everything you claim not to have!" Dark Kaida's voice became louder and angrier at each passing moment. "I have nothing to do with you, I am just some dark monster, right? Am I right! Well guess what princess; I am you! Listen to what is said to you, you stupid girl! I AM YOU!" with the last moment she swiped at Kaida, but her claws merely seemed to scrape across an invisible glass. Kaida stepped back yet again as energy arched around the dark creature's body. It took long moments before the electricity in the air around the pair calmed down._

"_I don't care what you think, and I don't care what you do, but you need me and you know it. That ass-hole Praxis, he did this and I want revenge. Don't deny that you don't, I can feel it in your soul and it feeds mine." her black eyes were locked on Kaida's. "And I also know this. I hate your existence, you conflict mine, but right now, we are unbalanced and your body will fail. It WILL, despite what you might say. I don't want to share, but I don't want our body to fail. I want freedom and life just as much as you. So don't fuck up and kill us!" Kaida stood and stepped up to the invisible glass._

"_I hope you know I hate you too. I can believe that YOU come from ME. And I don't know how you came about, but I will get rid of you." Kaida's voice took on a tone of venom._

"_You cant." Dark Kaida hissed, "How can you 'get rid' of me, when I know that part of you cant even accept that I exist, that this whole world exists?"_

"_I will." Kaida's voice was fearful but defiant. "Now let me out of here!"_

"_I am not keeping you here. This isn't my place alone you know..." There was the sound like breaking glass and the scenery fell away. For a moment Kaida faced her darkness and watched as the invisible mirror between them shattered. For a moment it was just they, and they alone. Then somewhere a shattering noise sounded, and Kaida was left alone._

The sun was beginning to fall in the smog filled sky when Kaida stirred. She blinked from the ground, allowing her eyes to adjust to being open. She looked up at the hazy sky and saw the greenish glow of the daystar becoming brighter as the sun faded. Slowly she pushed herself up from the fragmented concrete. She felt sluggish, and tired, the sun-warmed concrete having made her comfortable. She knew, however, by the breeze she could barely feel that came off the ocean that soon the night would be freezing and she would not want to be caught out here. But it was just too tempting.

Kaida let herself lie down and relax, promising herself that it was only for a few more minutes. She wasn't sure how long passed. It could have been a few moments, or it could have been half an hour. But either way, she felt a sixth sense prickle at the back of her neck. She pushed herself up on her arms as the sense grew stronger and as she looked down at the floor a shadow overlapped her own.

She whipped around to see as best as she could but a boot to her chest rolled her, winded, onto her back. She coughed and looked up. A heavy foot stepped firmly on her sternum and she felt the strain on her ribs. The fading sun was in her eyes as she attempted to identify her captor, but when the silhouette spoke, she didn't need anything else to know.

"My, my, fancy meeting you here. Freak." It was Erol. He sent his weight down on her chest and she felt something crack. Before she had time to yelp he kicked her in the side and in the stomach. A small amount of bloody spit dripped from her mouth as the attempted to regain her breath. Kaida could barely feel the shifting of the holster on her hip as Erol took her only weapon away from her.

She was jerked upright by a set of heavy hands. A pair of Krimson guards dragged her towards a waiting Hellcat.

'Of course Erol came with the KG, he wouldn't be caught dead without some sort of guard. Why didn't I hear them?' she thought bitterly to herself. Suddenly they threw her into a cage waiting on the back of the Hellcat. She regained herself as quickly as she could and ran to the bars and pushed. Erol appeared and punched her in the throat through the bars with a laugh.

"Once we get into the city feel free to fight all you want. You'll never get out, but you will make a good spectacle. Everyone will know your face and if you ever escape again, you'll have nowhere to hide." He turned and was about to walk away but turned back.

"Oh yes, and one more thing." He snapped his fingers a pair of heavy manacles snapped themselves around her wrists. Erol laughed again before disappearing from her sight. She felt the floor rock as the vehicle rose from the ground and headed for the city. The stupid vehicle seemed to crawl infinitely slowly through the streets of the city and yet at the same time the end of their journey seemed to be rushing towards Kaida. She sat in the far back of the cage, and let her mind work furiously. There had to be a way out, she knew and she had to find it. She let her self think, and let all of the possible plans come to mind, but each one she easily dismissed knowing that it was just crap.

She watched the road pass through the window and when the road became pavement the panic set in. Kaida threw herself at the bars in desperation. She turned her body and felt her should connect with a bar, and out rightly painful thing. The cuffs kept her wrist a good foot away from the bars, leaving her arms useless. She jerked against her bonds like a caged animal and felt the pain in her shoulder joint well up. She stopped only for a moment and rested her face on the bar.

The cold metal sunk into her skin and poked ice needles at one long painful memory. Prison. Kaida wasn't afraid, but one long year with those bars, darkness and pain all in one place would be enough to set anyone with a bit of a painful trigger. She felt her breathing hike, and everything told her she needed to get out now. From the passenger seat Erol let a slick smirk twist across his face as he heard the cage rattle.

"That's right, keep fighting, wear yourself out and show everyone your pretty, wanted, face." He muttered to himself. That sick look was wiped of his face however, when a shot sounded and a bullet grazed his collar.

"What!" he demanded. There was a moment as the KG on board and Erol frantically looked for the source of the shot. There was screaming as people fled at the sound of a second shot. The vehicle came to a stop and the KG and Erol ducked as another bullet grazed the seat.

"Sir, a sniper?" Asked the driver of the Hellcat.

"That's ridiculous! Who would be sniping at _us _from within the city? Who would have the skill, no, the gall to do that with this public!" Erol snapped with malice. With another two shots, eyes were temporarily diverted to seaching for the source of the gunfire, but the attention of the guards was quickly turned to the sound of crashing metal. If possible Erol's face became twisted in an even worse expression as the cage fell off the Hellcat and breaking of metal sounded.

The cage was flipped over easily, as if papers, by Kaida, or something like her. Black eyes and a cold sneer/smirk met Erol's gaze. The sneer receded farther and a deeper more infuriating smirk over took it on the face of the being that now faced him. A mock salute to him sent waves of hatred through his body and over took the slight fear he had felt of the transformation.

"Shoot! Get her! I want that freak back in prison!" Erol yelled to his men. The KG followed orders and shot as best as they could at the transformed Kaida. Dark Kaida smirked and easily dodged the rain of shots, but a sudden wave of dizziness and nausea dropped her to her knees. The ground spun underneath her and before her eyes. She felt the whole world slip under her, but was quickly brought back by a sharp burning sensation as a bullet grazed her ear. She threw herself to her feet as quickly as she could and attempted to run to take cover.

The sniper increased his rate of fire. It seemed at this point that whoever it was, really was really intending to hinder Erol's mission as best as they could. Erol ducked as best as he could behind the seat, until a few too many stray shots caused the Hellcat explode. Just as unfortunately, moments before the vehicle exploded, on Krimson Guard managed to send a hot bullet into her leg. Kaida let out an exclamation of pain and dropped to the street. Erol hissed from behind the smoldering remains of his vehicle.

"Find the shooter! He must have shot from those buildings! Cover fire, and collect the prisoner before she gets away!" Barked Erol. And the good little KG did as they were told. Kaida knew that she must look like a beaten dog trying to crawl away, the way she was right now, but it didn't really matter much at this point. When 90 of the attending KG fire was directed the sniper's suspected hiding place, the enemy fire immediately ceased. The remaining 12 of the KG ran out and grabbed limping fugitive and dragged her back to the Hellcat as a supporting cruiser arrived just in time.

Erol threw the commander of the cruiser from his seat and viciously ordered the KG who were detaining Kaida onto the Hellcat so they could make their escape and leave the rest of the KG to clean up the mess. They took off as quickly as they could, Erol displaying his racing-honed reflexes as he maneuvered the large craft out of the area. The sniper cursed from his vantage point and flinched as the rain of bullets continued to fracture small bits of the concrete. Under the constant peppering of the KG fire it was going to be difficult to get away in time. Kaida struggled as best as she could against the grip of the Krimson Guards, but had no luck, and succeeded only in continuing to wear herself out.

"Quit struggling, you are getting blood on the upholstery." Erol spoke, his voice returning to its usual cocky calm. Kaida did the best thing she could think of at the time. She calmed herself and sat still, and calmly spit onto Erol's boots. He glared at her but was just out of reach, and so was forced to remain still. It seemed only to take moments before they arrived at the entrance to the prison. None of the guards had even given a vague attempt at staunching the bleeding of her wound in her leg. Kaida's heavy glare radiated from even as she left a trail of blood dripping from her leg as they dragged her into the building.

They made their way, Erol with a proud smirk on his face, through the building.

"You know, if your ego gets any bigger, Erol, you'll run the risk of falling on your face." Kaida slurred as best as she could. Her face was pale and she hardly had the will to lift her injured leg. Kaida looked up ahead and saw a familiar Krimson Guard supply box. She stood herself as straight up as she could, while still being forced along by the guards, and at the right moment she threw her full dead weight to the side and unbalanced the guards. They staggered to the side and kicked open the box.

The contents scattered onto the floor and Kaida put her weight on to her leg and smashed open a container of green eco. The guards roughly shoved her back into line, but it had been long enough. The eco had seeped into her leg and healed her wounds, in addition to renewing at least some of her lost energy. They continued into, what was obviously, a part of the prison, however she happened to have never been here before.

"Chain her up so she can't escape." Erol ordered, and heavy shackles were put on her wrists and ankles to bind her to the wall. "I will go get Baron Praxis and the necessary 'tools' for this occasion." He smirked and grabbed her jaw.

"I'll be back for you soon." He turned and made to exit the room. However he only managed to get about halfway across the room towards the door before he was halted in a volley of gunfire. Erol shielded himself from the seemingly random gunshots before he dove for his own gun. Kaida allowed a tiny part of her mind to be momentarily amused that for a moment she had thought that he only carried guns for show. The Krimson Guards too, went for their weapons, however some were not fast enough and soon were laying face down on the hard ground. Kaida's widened as

Jak jumped down from his vantage point in the building and continued to fire and fight off the guards.

"There a situation down here! Get your ass' in here now, I need back up!" Erol yelled into a communicator. The KG began to swarm into the room and Jak had his hands full keeping their numbers down. Kaida watched, her mind blank in surprise.

'Hey!' A voice sounding in her head brought her to her senses. She threw herself against the bindings and looked around to see if she could pick them, unfortunately, these were more high tech then that and she didn't have the ability open these. She stopped pulling and shut her eyes.

'Come on, I know I need energy for this, but please, just one more time.' She begged in her mind. She strained once again against he bonds and focused herself. 'Come on!' she jeered in her head. 'Come on!' Her entire mind was set in over coming her lack of energy in this one moment.

'I want out!' She yelled in her head and externally let out a yell. And it paid off. For just a moment she felt herself slip into that dark body which had the power to escape. With a twitch of her wrist she felt the shackles break, and the same with her ankles. But it was only for that moment, and she instantly felt the power fall away and she was left with sore joints. She reached for the first fallen KG gun she could find and took careful aim. Wary not to hit Jak she fired and shut all of the mechanical doors and locked them by shooting the code pads. With the number of KG now limited, the two had no problems ridding the room of the remaining guards.

Kaida stepped up to Erol, who had been shot in the side and was weak to the point that he could not stand. She leaned down with a dangerous sneer on her face and with a quick twitch of her hand took back her gun from his belt.

"This is mine." She took the opportunity to spit, again, on his boots and turned and stalked back towards Jak. The semi victory was only sweet for a moment before lights began to flash and the sound of an alarm rang through the building.

"Come on! We gotta go!" Jak yelled to Kaida and they ran from the building in the best direction that they could decipher. They threw the final doors open and ran out into the city. There was a complete understanding between the two that they need not hang around and so, they both stole zoomers and took off as fast as they dared into the city. Once into the slums the pair slowed and caught their breath.

"Whew! That was fun!" Declared Daxter, in an obnoxiously loud voice, from his safe perch on Jak's shoulder. There was silence from the pair however and Daxter's ears drooped and he gulped at the tension that seemed to still hang around. There was silence all the way back to the hideout and even inside. Torn watched with a glare, but in silence none the less, as the silent group passed again. No words were exchanged as Kaida went over to the pile of clean clothing and pulled out a few clean articles and quickly stalked to the shower. Daxter watched with his ears down, not daring to break the silence within the nearly empty hideout. He soon went to curl up on his bunk with a slight hint of confusion in his mind as Jak walked up to the door of the shower area and simply leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

Kaida leaned against the cool tiled wall of the shower and put a hand on her face. She let the steam fill the room and make the air thick, but she still didn't leave. The long gap seemed to stretch on forever. At last, Kaida emerged from the shower, steam pouring out onto the ceiling. Jak did nothing to acknowledge that she was there and kept his cold eyes on the far wall. Kaida paused next to him and they both felt the wedge that had been forced between them.

"I'm sorry." At long last Kaida could take it no longer. "And…thank you. You were the sniper, yes?" Jak coughed and shifted his weight.

"Yeah, so it was me." He coughed awkwardly again. "And, I'm sorry too. It was… none of my business." Kaida shook her head gently.

"But I should have told. I am also sorry." There was another silence between them, however this time it was calmer and felt that the heavy steam of their fight was slowly cooling and seeping from the wedge between them.

* * *

Wow, sorry about that long break folks! Thank you for sticking with me though that! I am really sorry, its just that I have had work on the weekends and that is usually when I do my work. Oh well, now I have this one up, and I hope that you guys like this chapter! The next one will have more to do with the whole plot progression, and we will get a little closer to the end of the entire story! Yes and I am also sorry for the shortness, it just seemed like a good place to cut it off. However, I will attempt to be better and faster about my updates. 


	16. Vin

"But I should have told. I am also sorry." There was another silence between them, however this time it was calmer and felt that the heavy steam of their fight was slowly cooling and seeping from the wedge between them.

After a rather awkward set of days, things seemed to return fairly to normal. Neither Jak nor Kaida spoke of her capture and escape. It was just understood. Even Daxter had the sense to keep his mouth closed on the issue. It wasn't that either felt that it was embarrassing or anything of the sort, they just felt that the whole incident was best left behind them, and they were sure that Errol would do just the same.

Kaida awoke the next morning with only slightly sore shoulders. She ran her fingers up her ear where the bullet had grazed it. She felt a small scab where the hot metal had skimmed away the skin. She was lucky to have escaped with only that.

Because she had managed to get hold of the KG health pack of eco, the wound in her leg had healed perfectly and, there was only a minor bruise on the area. All in all, she was fine. However, she felt the need to thank her dark side. As much as it bothered her in her mind, she knew that she should do it. She felt the growing displeasure turn her mouth sour and a feeling of deep resentment pricked along her insides.

She continued to cultivate these feelings as well as attempt to come up with something. Abruptly, a single thought crept across in the back of her head. Not a hint of gratitude but a hint of a sort of 'You're welcome'.

Her frown deepened, knowing that response came from the Darkness. Not that she was upset at the action, more that she was upset that her darkness had said you're welcome before she had gotten up the gall to say thank you. This idea brought to mind the subtle image of her darkness smirking at the displeasure she had caused. She let her mind stay on this for only a moment before she turned her attention to other things.

Torn frowned heavily as he stared at his piles of papers. Despite the fact that he constantly looked agitated, he wasn't really always that upset. Yet recently, more specifically, today, his feelings matched his bitter face. It wasn't that there was suddenly a lot to do, it was just that these were missions that needed a it more finesse then most soldiers would be able to put into them. He stuck his fingers into his dread locks quickly and gave a small sound of irritation.

The Baron was planning up to something, but he couldn't quite put all of the pieces together. But that was the big problem, and he was currently being prevented from solving that problem by a group of smaller problems that kept popping up. Right now? It was Vin. Damn it, if Vin wasn't so useful...if he wasn't always right... But that wasn't the point. The point was... Torn growled quietly before getting to his feet. The point was that there were a handful of good soldiers sleeping in the underground at this very moment and they needed to get off their hind ends and work for their keep.

He marched down through the halls to the back bunk room, thankful to get a chance to walk around. He hated that desk, he really did...

His cold blue eyes surveyed the quiet area. There were a few bunks taken up by sleeping forms of soldiers, though the place was not as full as it was on a bad day. Torn's eyes eventually landed on the only thing moving inside the room besides the slow breathing of those asleep. He recognized the figure as Kaida, one of the few women that worked directly through the underground hideout as a soldier. She was pulling most of her hair back into a pony tail and was dressed for the most part. He hadn't given her a job in a while, he remembered, because she had been sick at one point, and then seemed to disappear into thin air the next.

With is mind made up, Torn took a few long strides over to Kaida. She looked up, her odd colored eyes held a slight tint of surprise as she observed his irked expression.

"Wake up Jak. Its time you get your butt in gear. Vin's got a little problem for you, and you guys seem about right. He'll be in the city, on the second level. There's a locator on your communicator." He turned without waiting for a reply.

"Oh, and its also marked on that map you took off my desk." He didn't need to look at her to know that Kaida's face showed plain shock, and fear that she would be in trouble. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry about, it but don't do it again." Torn smirked in a satisfied manner, and stalked off out of the bunk area. Kaida stood and turned to wake Jak.

She should have known that he would notice the map she had taken. She was only surprised that he hadn't been extremely angry with her about doing so. She looked over the edge of the top bunk of the bed and couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight of Jak sleeping. When he was sleeping deeply like this, he didn't show a single shred of the anger or hurt that he did in public. He didn't have on a face to cover up everything and intimidate people. Kaida had never before known anyone who had ever needed to hide things like he did, nor people who were hurt like he was. It was very interesting. In any case, she reached over and shook his arm.

"Wake up." she pushed herself to speak. Jak let out a small groan as he slowly opened his eyes. He was like a kid who didn't want to go to school, as he rolled over and away from her. Kaida rolled her eyes and shook him with both hands and spoke louder.

"Wake up!" He let out another disoriented grumble before he finally forced himself to sit up.

"What... what's up?" He looked at her, his blue eyes still fogy with sleep.

"Another mission. Courtesy of Torn." She spoke firmly and saw Jak's sleepiness vanish nearly instantly.

"Alright lets go." he yanked on his boots and snatched up his gun and grabbed Daxter off the bed. The half asleep animal didn't wake up until they were speeding along on a zoomer, upon which time he thoroughly freaked out.

The first thing one noticed about the industrial section of the city, was that it was mainly red and grey, the Baron's colors. It was an easy place to find as it was nearly the center of the city. At this time of the morning the sector was busy. The traffic was slow moving, but dangerous and there were pedestrians everywhere. Kaida put it akin to New York, only...different.

As the group pulled up in the city they dismounted their vehicles and made their way up onto the overpasses that served as a sort of sidewalk. Above the flight levels of the zoomers, the pedestrians were, for the most part, out of danger's reach. Kaida took her time and sort of people watched as they made their way towards Vin's place. A few of the people walking took a sort of passing recognition of Jak, he had not yet made a big splash in the city.

There was little disturbance made as they arrived and the thick metal door of Vin's constant hang out flew open for them. Vin was the only person inside the large room, and didn't even seem to notice the party entering. The vast screens flitted through words and numbers that were all gibberish to both Jak and Kaida. Vin tapped frantically at the keys and he flitted from panel to panel.

"Hey, I want to thank you guys for saving my butt out there, at the strip mine." his fairly high pitched voice sounded as if it was constantly tinted with worry. He didn't even look at the visitors though he knew it was them. Daxter took the opportunity to make a retort.

"And we'd like to thank you for being such a bad shot." he spoke with indignity in his voice, but anyone who knew Daxter, knew he was fairly over it. Finally Vin looked over his shoulder to speak.

"Ah yeah," his worried voice carried a hint of sheepishness. "Sorry about that guys. Ah, I'm a bit jumpy these days." Daxter chose sarcasm, again, as his words.

"Jumpy? We hadn't noticed." Of course he couldn't help playing a joke. "Ahhh! A Metal head behind you!" Vin instantly spun around and backed against the console, his eyes darting around the room in a frantic attempt to escape the 'metal head'. As Jak and Daxter began chuckling and Vin realized he was safe he grasped at his heart and took a deep breath in an attempt to regain his composure.

"Just kidding, nice reaction time though." Kaida too, had laughed at poor Vin, though she knew somewhere that it was kind of mean.

"Not funny!" Vin declared, then turned back to the consoles and began his frantic typing once again. "Those metal heads have been attacking our mining operations, and we're running out of eco! Eco power keeps the city shield walls up, and if the shield drops..." Vin flicked lightning fast through the screens as he spoke. "Well, we can all kiss our butts goodbye."

"I've got a few surprises for those metal heads." Jak spoke with gusto and a lot of confidence. Dax grinned in agreement and Kaida shook her head slightly, though she couldn't help grinning as well. Vin, however, wasn't so convinced. He shook his head, and hands as he turned to look at them again.

"You've got to keep the shield walls up until the Shadow figures out what to do." he turned back around and flicked through the screens. "My readings show a drop in the eco flow at the drill platform. Probably some metal head eggs suckin' away power. So, use the warp gate to go to the platform and destroy every metal head egg you can find." Vin pointed to the circular gate. He typed a few more keys on the console and the blue ring lit up.

Kaida was a little wary but she assured herself it was unneeded. Jak took a last look at Vin before heading over the warp gate. Kaida followed and he glanced back at her quickly before jumping into the portal. Kaida followed suit and in the blink of an eye she found her feet on steel walk ways. A cold breeze pushed her hair and chilled her a bit. The group could smell the heavy scent of exhaust from the machinery along with the earthy taste of the dust and mud. Jak stepped forward, as far as he dared, towards the edge of the platform. They all looked over the edge and could see the enormous drill spiraling downward into the dirt.

She looked out over the large, seemingly suspended, platform and into the darkened area. It was quiet at the moment, and she could see, from here, the gun turrets that they would need to take out all of the eggs. The eggs could be seen clinging to walls all over the area. They pulsed and twitched as the young inside moved around. They varied in size and some of the biggest were frighteningly so. The yellow soft shells seemed to glow against the black goo that stuck them all in place.

Kaida instinctively pulled out her gun, as did Jak and both selected the mod that they though would best fit the situation. Kaida pointed to the turret guns, situated on the corners of various platforms.

"There, the turrets."

"Yeah, we need to get to those." Jak too, had seen them. They headed off across the platform, and once they had jumped down from their slight step up, a sudden swarm of bladed metal heads sprung their attack. Kaida's weapon reset quickly and took out the creatures as they approached, Jak's larger, slower weapon did not fare so well, and eventually he was forced to kick down some of the metal heads that got too close. Bad choice. The blades that they were attached to their bodies sliced into Jak's leg. He cussed loudly and jumped back before unloading his gun neatly into the rest of the metal heads.

There was a momentary pause in the action as they quickly collected the metal head gems, before the continued on their way. They ran into a few other clusters of these bladed metal heads, before the found the platform elevator. The metal platform shook and jerked slightly as their weight set off the delicate mechanisms, and began to rise into the air. There was another cold gust of wind from across the mine once they reached the top. The turret gun sat calmly at the edge of the platform and Kaida stepped towards it.

From this vantage point on the platform, they could see the other turret gun, off a ways and sort of around a corner. Jak looked along the path and planned out his path quickly in his mind. He looked up as did Kaida and they could see the enormous eggs all over the buildings.

"Alright," Jak turned and stepped back to the elevator. "You take care of the eggs from here, and I'll go take out the rest from that gun over there." He pointed even though Kaida already knew where he was talking about.

"You sure?" Kaida asked carefully. Jak nodded as the elevator dropped him down two levels to where he needed to go. Kaida swallowed and walked back towards the turret. She didn't want to get in to the gun seat, because that was when the metal heads would show up in the game, but...how much of this was really like the game?

Jak ran along his path as fast as he dared. He didn't like that there were so many places that metal heads could be hiding. He jumped up off a platform as fast as he could and nearly fell back as he heard a gunshot and saw a metal head falling dead just a few feet from where he was. He whipped around and looked for the source of the shot. It took him a moment and he had to squint a little but he could see the figure of Kaida facing his direction. He waved his thanks and she returned the gesture.

She was sitting on the edge of the plat form with her legs hanging over the edge. That last shot had been pure luck. There was no using the gun sight for this, as it was not a long range weapon. She was lucky she had been able to snipe that metal head from where she was. She followed him as best as she could, sometimes losing sight of him but knowing he was ok. When the larger groups of metal heads swarmed she took aim as best as she could, but did as little as possible, afraid she might hit Jak. She continued to watch him with careful aim when suddenly the gun was knocked painfully out of her hands.

It landed, smoking about 15 ft behind her and she whipped around to see what did it. One of the flying metal heads that guard the place, had set its sights on her. She kicked herself for not paying attention and made a dash for the gun turret. Sitting in the gun seat she glanced at the displays that appeared on the glass before her. Her eyes flitted over the writings she checked the gauges and looked through the glass for her targets. She swung the turret gun around with surprising ease and aimed as best as she could at the metal heads that had shot her.

The gun mount shook with the power of the gun. Once her sights were clear of all the metal heads she whipped around and fired at the metal head eggs. She watched the seemingly soft eggs break under the gunfire. Suddenly the gun seat shook violently and she was knocked forwards, she looked up and saw a flashing red marker on the screen. The whipped wildly around and saw the enormous flying metal head only feet from her. She spun the gun and attempted to shoot, but as she tried to move the machine, the metal head took the chance to blast her again. The metal compartment shook more violently, and she watched as best as she could as the gauge measured the time left before the metal head broke down the hull and blasted her shit-less. She continued to attempt to move the pivot around, but she knew there was no way she could.

Suddenly there was a break in the shuddering and the metal head fire, along with the unmistakable loud deep groan of a metal head in pain. She opened her eyes fully but didn't bother to take the time to wonder and attempt to register what had happened, she just fired until the metal head was gone. Only now, did Kaida swing the slowly repairing gun turret around to see Jak taking care of all of the metal heads that he could. She didn't need a minute to take a guess at what had happened, but she didn't bother to look grateful, she just turned back to what she had been doing.

"Thanks." She said aloud, mostly to herself. She focused her attention back to the task at hand and jumped nearly a foot in the air when a voice crackled over a speaker.

"You're welcome." It was Jak's voice, cracking over the speakers. Kaida had had no idea that there were communicators with in the gun turrets but now that she knew, it made a sort of sense.

"You scared me. I didn't know there were speakers." She responded casually as if she hadn't jumped so badly.

"Yeah, I guess its to keep contact with incase of a battle...kind of like this one."

"Yeah." Kaida remained silent, as did Jak. It was a calm quiet, save the violent crashes of the turret guns hitting their mark and then some.

"So," there was the sudden feeling as if someone had dropped a bucket of tension and nervousness over them, as Jak's words came through the communicators. "Your world, what was it like?" For a long moment, Kaida wasn't sure how to respond to that, and Jak wasn't sure if he had asked a reasonable question. He wanted to know, but he was unsure of whether or not it was something she could answer at the moment. He could sense her reluctance and began to frantically search his mind for a way to change the subject so she wouldn't feel the need to answer.

"Green." Was, finally, the response."There were trees and plants, not like this city, where I lived." Jak was surprised and let his tension drain as he listened to her honest response. "There were houses and many people. But, it was a town. Not so much dirt, not so much grime. It was not a city like this." Kaida fell silent, wondering how much she could say before she told him too much, or before the homesickness got to her. Jak sensed that she was done talking and decided to pick up the conversation for conversation's sake.

"My world was like that too." Kaida bit her tongue as she nearly said 'I know'. Jak continued, however. "It was green and I lived by the ocean. But its wasn't polluted like the water is here. It was beautiful and there were so many things to see. I...do miss it. A lot. This city is just, so, different." Kaida felt a pang as her mind went back to playing this 'game', she thought back to when Jak found Samos's hut within the ruins of Dead Town. This was his world. It had only been just a passing moment in the game but here, in real life, it just seemed more important. Kaida swallowed and tossed around the idea of telling Jak. Finally she began;

"Jak.." her voice was just over a whisper and barely audible to even herself. She opened her mouth to continue but the sound of shattering metal and the crash of something heavy interrupted her.

"Woo!" came Jak's loud, excited voice over the speakers. "That was the last of the eggs, but those metal heads are still coming. I think we had better ditch this place before things get any uglier." For the first time in the past, five or ten minutes, Kaida looked over her shoulder at the gun that had been knocked from her reach. She hadn't even given it so much as a passing thought while she had been engaged but now that she knew they would be running for the warp gate and Jak would not be providing cover fire, she would really have appreciated that gun. She took out all of the metal heads close enough to shoot then took a last look at Jak.

Jak jumped out of the turret gun seat and took off. The metal tower that had been knocked down provided him with a shorter means of getting back to the warp gate. He threw all he had into running full out across that precariously placed metal frame. Daxter clung viciously to his shoulder and kept himself tucked as close to Jak for personal protection.

"Jak, you might wanna hurry!" he whined shakily in Jak's ear. His eyes followed the dark forms of the metal heads that continued to come and were carefully closing in.

"Don't worry Dax, we'll be fine." Jak comforted gruffly and with minor irritation at the insinuation that he wasn't already doing everything in his power to keep them from becoming metal food. He didn't dare let his mind stray from the task at hand but he could not keep himself from feeling a slight happiness in hearing about Kaida's world. She had said it was green, like his home. Though they were both from different worlds, the distance that he had felt from everyone, besides Daxter, slipped a little when it came to Kaida. There was a loneliness that he felt, even with Daxter around, that he just couldn't get rid of no matter how much he steeled himself, or attempted to push it out of his mind. And it gave a sort of hope, that maybe, they would leave this place and get to go home.

Kaida took a last shot and a last look before she threw herself from the seat and tore across the platform. If anyone else had been there she might have played it more cooly but right now she just felt like she was running from a monster. She ran with fear keeping her at top speed. She reached out and snatched her gun without losing any momentum and continued to run she made it to the elevator and as it dropped she vaulted the edge and landed on the platform below before the elevator did. She took of at a run again and sprinted up the ramps towards the exit.

In the game the metal heads would just stop coming, but not here, that just wasn't how life worked. Out of habit she hastily stowed away her gun, without even looking at it to see if it was even useful now. As she reached the final platform and made her last dash for the gate, she could hear the hum and the low growl of the meat heads right on her heels. She turned and looked slightly to her left and saw Jak, about in the same situation.

He was sprinting up the metal frame with the dark forms of a metal head not far behind. Though they were still far enough ahead that the metal heads wouldn't use their short range weapons, the didn't really want to test how short that range was. Jak reached the gate first but he paused for Kaida to catch up. It seemed like the longest few seconds to both of them, as Kaida tried to push herself to over the top when she saw Jak waiting for her.

"Come on!" He yelled and as she reached the gate he put a hand on her back and pushed her into it. In her last seconds before she was transported she heard the frighteningly close hum of the metal heads weapons. Kaida had been thrown into the vortex with such force that she landed on the other side and stumbled awkwardly before tripping and falling onto her hands and knees. With the adrenaline still pumping wildly through her body she twisted around and waited a few painful seconds with her breath held. Luckily it was only a moment before Jak jumped from the warp gate and landed panting on the metal floor. Kaida breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't known she was holding and all of a sudden all of the adrenaline left her and she began to gasp for air and her legs began to ache.

She didn't bother to stand and act as if she hadn't fallen, she just attempted to regain herself. Jak too, was leaning against the railing and frantically trying to get back his composure. At last they both had breathed deeply and the ache had worn off. Jak offered his hand to Kaida how took it and thanked him as she pulled herself up.

They all said their good byes and left as Vin flitted from one console to the next like a frantic skinny bird. They took their time heading back to the hideout, even though it was drizzling and threatening more. Using the stadium pass, they headed into the more residential district and bought some food. It wasn't a lot but it was good and they were hungry, even though they were almost guaranteed at least some food at the hideout.

They ate some sort of fried meat, and Kaida chose not to ask what kind of meat this happened to be. It sort of reminded her of a corn dog and she sort of chuckled at the idea of there being a carnival in this city. They bought a couple of different small sorts of vender fast foods and ate them like they were starving. They finally got thirsty and attempted to find a place that sold drinks that did not contain alcohol. It was difficult, not knowing where anything was, but they eventually found a place and took their time.

"Hey," Daxter, who had also been enjoying himself was the first to break up the relaxation. "Its getting late, and wet, don't you guys think its about time we head back to the hideout?" Kaida and Jak looked at each other and silently came to agreement with Daxter. The paid and left. Kaida had made a mental tab, however of what kind of shops they had here. She was sure that they would have better stuff, and cheaper, in the bazar, but she had enjoyed herself and wasn't about to push her luck.

They stole some zoomers and took off through the city, as best as they could as the rain became heavy and soaked their vision. When they reached the hideout they were both thoroughly soaked and rather cold. Torn didn't even look up as they entered, and Jak figured Vin probably called him when they got back from the drill site. The vague thought wandered through his mind of when exactly Torn slept but he didn't bother himself too long with that. Kaida didn't even bother with a shower, she just grabbed some dry loose clothes and went off to change. When she came back she curled up under her covers and warmed up. Jak, however, went off to take a shower, leaving Daxter to dry off and curl up on the bunk bed. He ended up lying on the bottom bunk next to Kaida as she provided warmth for his, still wet, body.

Kaida began to nod off, but even as she began to drift away to the hush of running water, she felt a tug on her mind. It was a familiar feeling now, and she knew what it meant. It felt like someone had placed a fishing line in her brain and was gently pulling her along. She swallowed, hoping it would be good news she would receive from the Oracle, but nonetheless, fell to sleep quickly and silently.

* * *

AH! Don't kill me! Sorry for the delay, hope you are all doing well. I really sort of got sidetracked by Kingdom Hearts II. Yeah so, anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. And to those of you who helped me out by giving me the act one script, I am nearly at the end of the script and it would be a serious help if you would donate to my cause and send me the act two script. Thanx to you all! 


	17. Praxis

Kaida began to nod off, but even as she began to drift away to the hush of running water, she felt a tug on her mind. It was a familiar feeling now, and she knew what it meant. It felt like someone had placed a fishing line in her brain and was gently pulling her along. She swallowed, hoping it would be good news she would receive from the Oracle, but nonetheless, fell to sleep quickly and silently.

So, as it turned out, Jak had slipped and banged his head in the shower and came to bed in a very foul mood. However, everyone but Daxter was completely oblivious to the whole ordeal, and Daxter only knew because he was sleeping at the foot of the bed.

Jak rubbed his head on the, now, sore spot and muttered angrily in his head. This put a halt to his inner ranting. It had been a while. Actually only a few days but, still, it seemed like a long time. Really though, it had seemed like forever since he had found silence in his own head. There had been that voice for so long. It began as faint whispers so long ago, in his first night in the prison, and slowly grew to a maniacal laugh. A constant companion that he could not block out. But since that one day, since he had gained that power, it had been calm. And for the first time in year he had found silence.

Jak snapped out of his thoughts to find that he had succeed in rubbing his wet hair into the most violent and interesting cowlick. His scowl quickly returned as he remembered his head ache and managed to cultivate his irritation again as he lied down and attempted to fall to sleep. It was one of the few times he could hear that voice, and he was pretty sure it would always be there, like an echo.

Kaida found the next morning incredibly distasteful. She was sore and as she pulled her gun from the holster it had be resting in, her disposition only managed to sour at the sight.

The metal head had done a nice number on it and it looked rather useless at the moment. It honestly looked like it had been hit by a truck. Realistically, it had been through more than that. Unfortunately she had gotten this gun by 'borrowing' it, and she wasn't exactly of the opinion she could just waltz in and do it again. She sighed and emptied the gun of ammo before setting it dejectedly on the table next to her bed.

The thoughts of her ruined weapon only managed to distract her for a short time and that feeling of a tug in her mind returned. Her mood brightened with curiosity, though it was unclear why. Maybe it was that slight scrap of hope she held in her mind that maybe, just maybe, she could get home. Though, now that she thought about it, the last time she had gone she had received almost nothing but bad news. 'But still,' she thought as she looked up, 'it could be good news today. Today...' 'Just shut up and get going.' sounded the gruff voice in her mind.

She grit her teeth and ignored it. Ever since she had confronted her darkness that one day, this is what she had been gifted with. Although the Oracle had suppressed the darkness and given her the power to keep it away, most of the time, she could still hear that haunting voice in her head. She wondered how long she would be able to take it. This other version of herself, constantly listening to her every thought and often retorting with mean spirited comments and painful insults, was tolling on her nerves, and possibly her sanity(though there was no guarantee about that from what she knew).

Despite the constant irksome criticism and random vicious comments, Kaida dressed as causally as she could. Without her gun she wanted to look as much like a civilian as possible. She let her hair down and combed as best as she could. She knew she should take a shower but dismissed the idea and continued to yank on her boots. She tied them up and stood, tugging gently on her clothes to make sure everything fit right and was sitting properly.

Kaida took care not to wake those members who were still sleeping soundly in their bunks as she made for the exit, however, she took extra caution as she came to the front of the hideout, a.k.a. Torn's office. It wasn't that she thought that Torn might be sleeping and didn't want to wake him for one reason or another, it was more that she didn't want to be noticed, at the off chance that he wasn't paying attention, and get forced to do another mission. Again, not that she minded, particularly, doing missions to pay for her keep, more that she really wanted to get to the Oracle and having to do another mission would put a possible delay on that goal.

Luckily for her, as it happened, Torn wasn't even in his 'office' and Kaida hurried out of the door. Once in the street Kaida made the decision to walk as far as necessary, and only take a zoomer if she could find one lying around. She wasn't one for fighting and weapons normally but now that she was without her gun, she felt oddly at risk, and didn't want to attract the attention to herself if she stole one.

She ended up walking quite a ways and when at last she finally found a zoomer, the thought entered her head of whether or not it was really worth it to bother and take the damn thing, as she was nearly to her destination. She sighed and deliberately ignored the vacant zoomer at the entrance of the water slums.

With the walkway boards creaking beneath her feet, Kaida felt the pull of the Oracle in her mind tighten. Like being drawn in on a fishing line, the closer she came, the less room she had to flail and the tighter the line became, though in this case it was not painful. At last she came to the Oracle door and the line the tugged at her mind seemed to go slack, as it always did. As her hand reached for the door she noticed, for the first time since she had begun to hear the other consciousness in her mind, that it was strangely silent when the Oracle called. That or, she was more apt to ignoring it completely.

She entered the room, and looked through the candle light at the glowing idol in the back. As usual, without her even saying anything, the Oracle addressed her in its usual gruff voice. Here, too, in the presence of the Oracle, the voice in her mind was silent.

"Greetings, once more. It is good to know that you are well." Kaida tossed thoughts around in her mind as to how to respond. She did not want to seem rude but she wasn't sure how to properly return this particular greeting. The Oracle, however, solved her problem by eliminating the need for her to respond at all. "I see that you have gathered more skull gems from those creatures, the metal heads. That is good. They are proof to all that you are strong, and if you are ready, I will take them from you and grant you greater power over your own monster."

The Oracle never beat around the bush. Always straight to the point and she had never needed to do more than simply nod before the Oracle would take her skull gems, and then she would feel the great power of the idol. Each time it was different but the same. The licking pain, like flames, ebbed away from her finger tips and toes. It was pushed deeper into her flesh, but was no longer consuming her like the dark flame it was. Each time was like a breeze blowing across her body, cooling the wound, but feeding the flame, but none the less, containing it.

As the power the Oracle flowed out of her body she opened her eyes and came back to herself. The Oracle did not speak again and she felt a sudden need to prompt it to speak again, and perhaps give her some more hope. She opened her mouth, but the Oracle beat her to it, supposedly sensing her need for more.

"I am sorry, warrior, but I have found no more regarding your world. I do not even know the severity of the time lapse, but I will do all that I can to help you." There was a sort of note of finality in the voice of the idol as it spoke. And as the last sound vibrated around the room and in her head, she knew that there was no more to be said here. There was a certain amount of her hope that was dashed at this point but not enough to truly upset her. Kaida knew that she hadn't meant to come her expecting anything other than what she had received and at last she gave small nod of gratitude to the Oracle and exited from the building.

Without that pull in her mind, Kaida couldn't help but feel slightly empty, save the constant burning of the dark eco within her. The creek of the wooden planks seemed, somehow more lonely then ever. It was strange, she thought to herself. She looked up into the smoggy cloudy sky and wondered suddenly.

'Why do I suddenly feel alone? Where is this coming from? I cant seriously be this depressed over that little visit to the Oracle?' she looked down to her feet. She must have been imagining it, but some how it seemed quieter, and... 'Where the hell is this coming from! My god...'she chuckled to herself, 'I must be manic depressive. I swear to god, I was just so happy about five minutes ago.' Kaida shook her head and continued on her way, but for the life of her she could not figure out what was making her feel this way.

Jak pushed his way past a bush, flinching slightly as a stray branch snapped him in the face. He would have much liked to enjoy the, finally, fresh air but he couldn't. He was currently out side of Haven City, enjoying one of the few parts of the area where one could enjoy a fresh breath of air; Haven Forest. The down side? He had to collect 3 damned artifacts for the crazy old blind woman in the bazar. And, of course, the forest happened to be full of metal heads. So, as he fought his way past them, he had little time to enjoy the surroundings.

Currently, he was fighting a rather large metal head, that was covered on nearly all sides by thick armor. The only way to take this one down, he knew, was to shoot its underside, but some how, no one would think it to be a good idea to attempt to actually get underneath the damn thing. So, Jak was charged with the task of getting the damn thing to show its underside to him. The way, as he discovered, is to run from it. It was slow to turn and if it chased him and he dodged at just the right moment it would be unable to turn fast enough and its anger would get the best of it. It would rear in anger and he would take a well earned shot at its underside.

Due to a slight miscalculation, Jak succeed in getting himself cornered and, although he escaped, he had a few scrapes to show for it, and the creature was still after him. He dodged quickly to the left and heard the creature slide. He whirled around, ready to fire another shot into the metal head but he was met with a rather less pleasing sight as he realized to late that he had miscalculated yet again. The creature had managed the turn and was barreling at him, and seconds later, its horn

connected with his stomach and succeeded in sending him backwards.

Jak hit the ground a good distance from where he had just been standing and coughed. Luckily the creature took it as a victory and took a moment to snort and roar. Jak winced, but took a breath and stood up. As it charged him he stood his ground. He kept his eyes on the charging beast this time and when at last it was only seconds from him, he jumped to the side. This time there was no mistake and the metal head slid and reared in anger. Jak unloaded an unhappy round into the metal head and it finally fell to the ground.

At last with the metal head dead, he walked over to a smooth, ancient tile on the ground he jumped and landed hard on the button and a set of make shift steps appeared to let him continue his climb up the mountain. He had collected two of the artifacts that the old woman Onin had wanted, now he only needed this last item then he could go back. Though, truth be told, in the back of his mind he enjoyed it here. Well, he enjoyed it while in the brief periods he wasn't solving some damn ancient precursor puzzle, or being chased or chasing a metal head.

Some time, he thought in his head, he would have to come back, maybe bring Kaida with him. This was a nice place, when one had a peaceful moment. It was closer to home. There were growing things here, real green things like the forest back home. If he had taken that for granted, back then, he wouldn't take this for granted now. Jak touched the small place on his cheek that stung slightly. It felt only like a bug bite now, but he couldn't help being upset by it in some small way. Well, that and the fact that he had made to miscalculation withing seconds of each other and thus earned himself an aching stomach, and probably a set of rather large bruises.

But in any event, he made his way at last to the top of the slope he had been climbing for the last half hour. He walked across the grass and observed the moving arrangement of strange pieces of machinery. The ancient artifacts rotated and spun around each other effortlessly and Jak's eyes at last landed on one particular cog. Daxter jumped from his shoulder and made his way towards the strange apparatus and edged towards the single small gear in the mechanism.(1)

"I bet that's the prize! They wont miss one tiny gear." He reached out, his small paw fingers grasping the item. As he turned and walked away the mechanism seemed to be fine. "Like candy from a baby." Suddenly the machine ground to a halt, and all of the suspended cogs fell to the ground. "No one will ever know we were here." Daxter spoke as if he could not hear the crashing behind him, though knowing Dax, he was so wrapped up in his own success he honestly couldn't hear it all come crashing down. Jak was about to open his mouth in response but a frighteningly large gear rolled by slowly and silenced all of his thoughts, save the ones of him leaving, and soon.

With the three artifacts, now safely tucked in Jak's pack, and with Daxter, safely on his shoulder, Jak took one last deep cleansing breath of the forest before stepping though the warp gate that would head back into the city.

Before he reentered the city he took a look at the palace. It was like a giant watch tower, or some sort of creature, with is long tendril arms spread out over the city. A giant beast, both protecting the city, and threatening its demise. Jak made up his mind then, that he was up for doing something a little stupid. He touched his pouch, feeling the artifacts and knowing that they were secure. He hurried towards the zoomer he had left, and took off in to the industrial section of the city.

Kaida hurried along the streets towards, she didn't know what. She felt a strange sense of urgency but she didn't know where to go. She let her feet take her, and she soon found herself taking all of the back streets in the slums. She had no idea where she was going, and each time she looked around it felt like she had no idea how she got there. To an onlooker who cared to notice, it appeared like she was looking frantically for something. However, luckily, no one here noticed, or cared. She continued to wander, her feet carrying her faster and faster. Everything seemed to spin and eventually she couldn't take it. She stopped dead, with her eyes shut tightly and her hands on her head. The world continued to tilt as if she had been spinning in a tight circle and she leaned her forehead against the nearest wall. For a moment the idea passed her mind that perhaps she was looking for something. But then...that was ridiculous. She focused and forced her mind into a place she had only been once before.

There was silence. All she registered at first was the silence. She looked around. It was almost as she remembered it. The center of the city was splayed out around her while the hazy images of the towns people walked silently by. Her eyes followed one until it disappeared into the mirror glass that split this world in half. She turned and looked into the mirror but she could only see her reflection. She glared at the glass and her image glared back.

"Hey! Come out!" she yelled into the silence. "Where are you! I know you are here! What did you do to me!" she demanded. But she was greeted with nothing but silence. She felt her anger well up. The least that creature could do was appear when she called. But nothing. Not even a chuckle at her. She felt herself grow angrier and angrier until she let out a growl and smashed her hand into the mirror wall. She watched as the glass shattered and then seemed to fill, and return to its original position like water. She stared at the mirror as she watched her reflection, arching with energy, shift from one self, to another. Soon the image was just herself again.

"What is going on?" she asked the mirror. She was throughly confused. Here was a place where she and her other side could talk, where the darkness could take a form and speak directly to her. But now, even here, she was with in Kaida. She touched the mirror and felt a sear of pain through her body as the image in the mirror shifted. The change seemed forced and the face was twisted in agitation, though no less malice was present and there was no mistake. The pale face glared back from the mirror.

"'What's going on'? Well, you should know. I've already explained." the darkness's face contorted at the strain of continuing this. "This proves it. We are the same person. I told you this before. You are just to weak to control me. The oracle is doing as the damn thing says. Helping you control me. Its putting restrictions on me until you can get some back bone and become stronger. We are one person. The more even in power we get, the closer we will be." At last she was out of power and the darkness shrank away, but Kaida did not move.

Even though she had known that it was, she would never admit to herself that it was true. But now, now that the dark presence was no longer a voice in her head, now that she could no longer claim it as a separate entity, she was forced to admit it. It was a part of her. Though now that she was stronger, the burning dark eco no longer felt like it was a flame around her skin, it was more of an uncomfortable warmth. But with all that, she would rather have that pain back to be able to deny the darkness. She couldn't accept it. But there it was, in plain silence. The voice in her head was silent.

Jak strolled calmly into Vin's computer room, and watched said tech master flit about the room for a moment before speaking up.

"Vin, buddy, we need a favor." he walked towards Vin.

"I cant help you with you eco bill." Vin responded without even turning to the voice that had

spoken.

"We need you to switch on the access elevators in the one of the palace's support towers." Jak quickly cut the sweet talking act, knowing that he wasn't very good at it.

"Sheesh, that's part of the old B-zone power grid? It hasn't worked for years." again, he spoke without looking at Jak, though he didn't really need to.

"Well," Jak changed his direction, knowing that with Vin, he was going to need some sort of tact, even if that wasn't his forte, "if its too hard for you, I can understand. Power stuff can be tricky."

"Tricky!" Vin took the bait, and gave an indignant scowl. "I could route the old B-zone conduit line through the bypass grid, shunting the past the eco rings to connect the inductor tubes in series, then back through the outer wall insulator helix and across the resonant flux routers, to the number five capacitor array." Vin babbled aloud about his plan, and though Jak and Dax had no idea what he was talking about, they knew they got what they wanted. "Assuming the GX75B can handle the surge, I think I could link the phase loop lines into the primary coils, and presto,

you've got instant lift juice!"

"Vin, you're a genius!" Jak exclaimed, still having no idea what he had said, only that it would get done.

"Actually, Mar was the genius. People say he made most of this stuff long ago; the shield wall system, the eco grid... Anyway, to get the elevator moving you gotta find and turn on all the old B-zone power boxes located in the city. There are five of 'em."

"That doesn't sound too tough." Daxter gave his usual, incorrect, two cents.

"No." Vin was ever ready with the pessimistic truth. "Except those power boxes are guarded by motion sensing turbo cannons! But if you can destroy the cannons and switch on the boxes, I can do the rest. Just don't tell the Baron I ever saw ya!" That was an easy enough request and in moments, Jak was gone from the computer room.

The next few minutes found him on a zoomer tearing though the city looking for the bright red boxes that he was supposed to be looking for. When ever he approached the armed cannons would come to life and try to end his. For the most part is merely required some jumping and quick turns. The cannons would follow motion, but couldn't keep up when they fired. The rate of fire was slow and shots, predictable, but the accuracy and damage were deadly. Jak just had to keep moving, and when at last he go close enough, a well placed shot of his own would take care of the cannon and he would throw the power box. It was fairly obvious that there was a reason why the Baron didn't want people to turn on these power boxes. Perhaps is was to make sure no one could mess with them and damage the city, but somehow, Jak found it hard to believe that. He had asked Daxter when those guns had been installed, since he had been free for two years, but the animal couldn't say.

However, none of that mattered as Jak flipped the switch of the fifth power box. His pride in his work was only elevated when Vin's voice came over his communicator, telling him that he now had power and giving him directions to the correct tower, along with speaking some random technical terms that Jak basically ignored. He hurried through the city, trying to dodge the attention that he had managed to gather to himself by destroying those cannons. It wasn't easy, and by the time he managed to lose those damned guards he was panting heavily and sporting a few bruises. Luckily KG crates were plentiful and Jak was soon at his best once more.

Once he managed to find the particular support tower that Vin had mentioned he had to figure a way in. He found the damned door, with a little help from Daxter actually, and, wary of security, snuck in. He found a wonderfully long elevator and took a ride up. At the top of the tower the elevator opened up to, what was, most likely a maintenance path. The wind up here, blew viciously and he had to be careful as he moved.

To his great dismay, there was power running good and strong to the mechanisms upon the support ties. Some, he suspected, were most likely guard related, and meant for protection to stop people such as him, from doing what he was about to do. However, that was not a deterrent and he was quick to head down the dangerous path. He felt Daxter quiver on his should but stay quiet and still. Heights were the one thing is small friend did not handle well.

The wind whistled through the metal of the massive support cable, and Jak could feel the draft coming up through the small grate below him, that was his only separation from a few hundred foot fall. All he could think about was what was waiting at the end of this dangerous walk. His revenge was waiting. He dared not think it too loudly but still it was there and it helped him ignore the queasy feeling in his gut when the wind tipped him close to the edge of his platform. He was hoping beyond hope that he would finally get what he wanted. Jak didn't know what had driven to do this so suddenly but he did not worry, or stop to think.

At the end, he finally saw a door. Though he knew he should be wary, as he was certain he must have set off some alarm somewhere, he couldn't help but feel a surge of relief at the door and a desire to get off this support tower ASAP. With his gun at the ready, and a still quivering Daxter on his shoulder, Jak opened the door, meaning he kicked it in, and quickly went inside. He found himself, again, at an elevator. However, this elevator, unlike the last, had a list of levels. He glanced, unsure at the panel then hit the second highest number.

He took it as a good guess when the door opened up only moments later on a balcony. Jak felt a cold wind pick up, and he was sure it wasn't just the height. The sky was darkening, perhaps waiting for a storm. Jak, however, paid it no mind and stealthily crossed the balcony. He saw a stone pillar that arched over a great hall. Something told him that was the best way to go and he followed the intuition. He climbed up the pillar with some difficulty, but was pleased to find at the top, that the roof of the hall was made of glass panes in between the stone arches. He looked down and saw the best, in a strange sort of way, sight he could have found.

Erol and the Baron were standing in the room, along with a strange hologram projection. Jak squinted down into the room and could barely make out the figure on the hologram. It was no creature he had seen before. He quickly realized that it was, in fact a metal head. His head spun with questions about this but he remained silent and leaned as close as he dared to the glass and listened in on the conversation.

"I told you, we will have more eco by the weeks end." the Baron's gruff voice sounded loudly and was firm, though somewhere Jak might have been sure he heard a note of stress and strain in the voice. "We will transport it directly to your nest, as promised!"

"A deal I is of no value if you can't deliver, my dear Baron." The metal head's voice was vicious and unlike the Baron's, held nothing besides malice. "I grow impatient with your puny gestures. Give me the agreed upon eco, or the deal is off, and you and your precious city will pay the price!" The creatures voice rose and Jak was sure he nearly saw the Baron flinch.

"He is toying with us!" Erol yelled indignantly once the communicator clicked off. Jak let the questions run through his head, that metal head had been one of the biggest yet. And, most importantly, it could talk! 'Could that have been...' he wondered in his head. 'Could that have been the metal head leader!' He was unsure if even the Baron would risk making deals with that beast. "Let me lead an assault on the nest before it is too late!" Erol was continuing to argue. "I can take him!"

"Patience, commander." the Baron was surprisingly calm. "No on has ever penetrated the metal head nest. You know that! I've seen what comes of such foolish plans. No! Strength is their weakness... we play helpless...we train them to eat from our hands, and then... Move forward with the plan! Tell Ashelin to up her patrols. I want that tomb found!" The Baron was obviously livid at the metal head leader for doing what he had done.

"But your daughter has not been... agreeable.." Erol intersected cautiously. The Baron turned and growled.

"I'll see to that, one way or another." he grumbled out.

"Ashelin is the Baron's daughter!" Jak whispered, astonished. He dared not make too much noise and hoped beyond hope that the company below had not heard him

"And find that child!" apparently, they had not. "If you'd spent half as much time looking for the little brat, as you spend flirting with that mechanic girl, we would have pinned his royal ass to a wall long ago!" Erol looked away out of respect for the Baron but did not flinch. He was used to the loud and vicious manners of his superior.

"As you wish. With enough persuasion, I'm sure our spy will..." at that most inopportune moment, Daxter's nose got the better of him and he let out a sharp sneeze. It was only Jak's surprisingly good reflexes that stopped the pair from finding themselves with holes through their heads as Erol whipped around, gun ready.

"What was that!" Erol asked with alarm and hated surprise. He looked directly at the spot Jak and Daxter had occupied only a moment ago, and after a few seconds of silence he reluctantly lowered his weapon. He turned back to the Baron who signaled that he was done and dismissed himself and Erol from the room.

Jak lay motionless on the roof top, his arms and legs tucked tight to his body to avoid any possibility of being seen. He barely dared to breath and glared down at Daxter, who was being held in a death grip out of sight, with Jak's hand over his loud mouth. The cold wind picked up and as Jak lay still he became aware of the icy rain that had recently begun tapping against the glass panes. After long, still moments, and the rain had begun to make streams off of Jak's wet clothes, Jak finally dared to sneak a look in to the room below.

It was dark and empty as far as Jak could see, and he knew he couldn't stay like this up hear all day. He let go of Daxter and sat up on the cement arch. Daxter gasped for breath as if Jak had been choking him.

"Geez buddy, you think you could've held a little tighter." Daxter smoothed his wet fur and looked at Jak indignantly. Jak cracked a small smile and apologized. Daxter really didn't mean it, and knew full well that it was his fault that they had missed a juicy piece of gossip, but he didn't mind the apology. Jak looked down over the edge of the building and leaned forward slightly. Assured at the distance he allowed himself to slide down the curve, taking Daxter with him. He slid smoothly until the curve became a straight fall, and he let himself drop. He landed fairly softly considering the height. Jak was quite pleased with himself and began to walk casually to the elevator that would take him out of this dangerous place.

"So, we have a rat in the walls, do we!" Jak spun around to face the owner of that gruff voice. The Baron stood before Jak, in quite the piece of machinery. "A rat and his boy it seems! Back for a few more dark eco treatments? Well, allow me to put you both out of your misery!" With that the Baron charged.

Jak dodged to the side and looked frantically around for any sort of cover. Unfortunately there was little to be had on this balcony. The Baron's furious mech suit chose two machine guns to take down their target first. Jak knew he couldn't to hide forever and took out his own gun and took careful aim. He felt the hot sting of a few of the bullets that came dangerously close. Luckily he was fast enough to make it back behind some cover before he was badly injured.

Jak heard the Baron's yell of frustration as another of Jak's bullets made its mark. The Baron began to advance on Jak, while continuing to pepper him with machine gun fire. Jak changed the clip and unloaded a nice round into the Baron's outfit. After another growl of anger, Praxis made a quick retreat, ceasing fire. Jak, taking advantage of the situation, charged after the Baron.

That is, until he saw the marks that littered the ground. The thick cross hair scope marks told him to run. He turned around and made a mad dash for safety. He nearly made it before one of the missiles exploded on his heels. He was knocked forward and hit the ground, hard. He pushed himself up as fast as he could, just as more missile marks appeared. This time he dodged from side to side as the missiles found their marks. The balcony shook with the impact of the explosives. Jak new that, again, he couldn't run for his life forever.

He sucked in a deep breath and looked to where the Baron had retreated. He dashed forward, making sure to dodge from side to side to send the missiles off course. He stocked his gun and fired a few rounds with deathly accuracy at the Baron. Even from this distance, Jak could see the Baron's face turning red with fury. And, even though in the light of the overwhelming odds, Jak could see the scorching damage his well placed shots had caused.

The Baron, again, switched tactics. He abandoned his missiles and began to let of the strangest attach Jak had yet seen. His machine produced a sort of twister. It was short lived as twisters went and small. But as the winds whipped and scratched at the cement of the balcony, Jak felt that it would be best to avoid them. This, he soon found, proved to be difficult. The Baron was very adept at producing many of these twisters and the seemed almost to follow Jak before the burned themselves out.

Jak had a hard time running from these new weapons and still taking shots at the Baron but he was slowly working on destroying that death trap. Jak fired his gun but stayed a moment too long. One of the twisters sent him sprawling and he grit his teeth in pain. He looked down and saw blood starting to stain the deep color of his pants. He looked around for a KG box, but could see none on this roof. Daxter shook himself and stood up, having been jarred free of Jak's shoulder, and scrambled back to his friend.

"Come on man, we can take this guy!" He yelped encouragingly in Jak's ear. Jak stood, despite the pain in his leg and took aim at the Baron once again. The Baron had stopped for just a second to laugh at Jak's injury, and it was just enough time for Jak to cause the final stroke of damage to the Baron. An alarm went off inside the mech suit, telling the Baron he had better get his ass out of here if he wanted to live. Jak did not show his injury even as the last of the Baron's attacks glanced past him.

"The dark powers I gave you can't protect you forever! Since I made you, I can destroy you! We'll meet again soon!" Praxis yelled and flew his damaged weaponry away as fast as he could.

"Yeah, whatever, bye bye!" Daxter retorted in his usual cocky tone. Jak watched the man disappear around the corner of the building before he let himself fall to one knee under the pain of his injury.

"Jak! You ok?" Daxer asked, and hopped down from his perch. It was a rather obvious question but one that needed to be asked none the less.

"Dax, get me a KG crate!" Jak begged in his low tones. He grit his teeth and placed a hand on the wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding. Daxter tore around the area and found only one crate. He carried back the goods, a.k.a. ammo and a single eco pack.

"Sorry Jak, I could only find one..." Daxter seemed worried as he looked up at his cringing friend.

"Good enough." Jak said as he opened up the health back and used it on his leg wound. Unfortunately, even eco had its limits and it merely stopped the bleeding. The wound still looked unhealthy and the rest of his body was still bruised and battered but, he forced himself to stand.

"Lets go, Dax." Jak looked towards the elevator and Daxter climbed up onto his shoulder without another word. Jak did his best not to limp and to hurry as fast as he could. Once in the elevator he leaned heavily against the wall and shut his eyes as he felt the small room descend to the ground level. Jak felt the pain in his leg ebb and his grip on the world slip, just a little as he began to drift to sleep. He jerked himself, however a soon as he realized what had nearly happened and was slightly relieved at the spike of pain his movement had caused in his leg. He opened his eyes and watched as the lights lit up, signaling the end of their ride, as the ground came up to meet the elevator.

The doors slid open and Jak examined the area with care for a few seconds before venturing out.

He couldn't risk having his weapon out in public like this. The guards here, though normally uncaring of what he did, actually did enforce their no gun policy fairly well, and he had been chased through the city on a few occasions. Unfortunately for Jak, today happened to be a day when the guards were paying attention.

"You there!" Jak heard the shout.

'Oh shit' he thought.

"That is a restricted area, how did you get in there?" a, red suited, guard demanded. Jak stood stock still and the thought frantically of how to get out of this one. He put his hands up to face level, in a peaceful gesture.

"Hey now, sorry. I ugh...Got lost was all..." It was hard not to be a smart ass, though the pain of his leg was constantly, and sharply, assuring him of his own weakness. The KG wasn't buying it, however, and raised his gun. Jak knew he shouldn't fight but...he wasn't about to beg or get his ass taken without a struggle. When it became, without a shadow of a doubt that the KG was not going to back off, Jak pulled his gun out. The KG fell and Jak took off as fast as he could. His gunshot and the antics of the guard had attracted attention and he fought to escape from the situation.

Jak rounded a few frightened citizens and found himself face to face with another KG. This time, he wasn't alone, nor, did seem, was he any normal KG. His red uniform was the same but his badge style was different. It was more ornate and Jak had the feeling it was a level of rank. Perhaps a Captain, maybe? He had an air about him that Jak did not like in the least.

"Well, what do we have here? A trespasser?" He had a snide voice that make Jak's blood boil. Jak raised his gun but the Captain swung his and nailed Jak right in his wound on this leg. Jak let out a cry of pain and dropped to the ground.

"I saw you limping. You should cover up wounds like that better, trespasser." The Captain made a motion and two guards grabbed Jak's arms and dragged him along. Jak's gun was left forgotten in the street and Daxer hid in Jak's shirt. He refused to leave his friend again. Jak hissed as the pain kept him from fighting back. His mind began to form thoughts as he slowly gave into his helplessness.

'I don't know who this guy is but he seems to have some sort of authority.' he looked out of the corner of his eye at the KG. 'But...he isn't calling me a 'freak' or mentioning anything like that. It seems like...like he doesn't know I am the one that broke out of prison. Well, one of the ones...' This thought gave him some hope. If this Captain didn't know what kind of a prize he had, he might not be as quick or as careful. But still, it didn't matter much at the moment, he was still being dragged away and he had no idea what to do.

Kaida tore thought he streets as fast as she could. She was heading for the Hideout, the only place she knew Jak would go to eventually. Jak was the only one she could talk to about this. The voice in her head was silent. The darkness in her was silent. It frightened her. If it was no longer in her consciousness, yet she still felt its weight, where did it go? She knew the Oracle had not removed it, it couldn't, not had it done anything other than normal. Kaida was lost and, perhaps, in the most frantic and frightened state of her life.

It was merely by sheer chance that she tripped and fell over some heavy piece of trash in the road. She growled loudly and stagged to her feet so as not to be stepped on by the careless passers-by. She dusted herself off as best as she could and turned to see what she had tripped on. Again, it was by sheer chance that she had feeling to even bother to she what had been the cause of her fall, but all in all it was good luck, hopefully. Her eyes went wide and she quickly picked up the object on the ground and hurried off the side of the street, in the shade of a building.

She was horrified when she confirmed that the object she was holding was, in fact, Jak's gun. She shifted it around in her hands trying to deny it but the gun was unique and only Jak could have had it. She couldn't help the fright she had. In this city, the reasons were slim as to why Jak would have gone anywhere without it. She looked around to see if she could spot any way that he might have gone but she couldn't find anything. All thoughts of her missing darkness vanished from her mind and she attempted to hide the gun in her clothes, however, this was difficult as she was wearing very civilian clothes and no belt, no holster, nothing of the sort. Once she had stored it away as best as she could she continued in her direction, only now with greater speed, towards

the Hideout.

She took a zoomer as soon as she found an opening and had quite a time to steering it with one hand. She dared not let go of Jak's gun, and she would risk a few scrapes to keep it safe. Kaida was frantic and had jumped off the zoomer before it had even come to a stop. She looked around for guards and made her way down the alley and into the passage way into the Hideout.

Kaida was greeted by the sight of Torn sitting at his desk looking very agitated. She ran up and leaned panting on his desk for a moment before she was able to form any sort of words. However, Torn was the one who spoke first, and even though she had basically known what he was going to say, it still stopped her breath in her throat.

"I think Jak's been captured."

(the line isnt working so this is a line)

Ah yes, another chapter done. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for all of your reviews, you make me so happy. I gave a lot more of Jak in this one and I hope you guys liked it. I hope it wasn't too much of a rewrite of what you already know. And now, reader responses!

Regrem Erutaerc: Thank you very much, I am glad that you don't mind the wait!

SilverDragon63: LOL yeah, sorry, I take my time...I am lazy

CrazyFFKHOttsel: Yes, I have beat it, and I LOVE the ending! Really? Thanks, I'll check it out.

Hikari Dragoness of Light: I Love long comments like this! Lmao, that is great! I am glad you like my story to much! I'll have to see what the public response is on that one I guess. TY for your imput!


	18. Released

"I think Jak's been captured."

Even thought Kaida had, for the most part, figured this, it still hit her hard. To have it said to her face, to have it assured as an actuality was almost too much. This, she knew, was not part of the game. They were beyond the game now. What else could happen?

"What do you know about it?" She feigned calm and looked at Torn levelly. Torn met her gaze and stared her down for a moment. He wasn't buying this. He knew she was frantic by how much she covered it up. But this wasn't the time to be playing games with the girl so he told her.

"There is a jam on his communicator, and there were several witness's that may have seen his capture so we can only assume the exact circumstances. But..." Torn's face turned sour. "We have overheard a warrant for Jak's arrest. I don't know what the hell he has gone and done but whatever it was, he has made a nice mess for himself. At this point I don't think those who captured him know exactly who they have, since there hasn't been any overly happy Baron activity." Kaida held her breath. "If this is the case, then, we may have some chance to rescue his goddamned ass."

"Do you know where he is?" Kaida asked, still keeping level. Torn shook his head and she felt her heart sink just a little in her chest.

"At this point, we cant be sure. Its been a while so I would say that he isn't on the street any more. If I had to guess I would say that he is in a temporary holding jail, waiting for the Baron to show up and tell them what to do."

"They wouldn't take him to the prison?" she asked, surprised.

"No, not right away. Only the most important prisoners get a direct ride to prison. And sometimes, the minor holding prisons can be worse than that one." Torn looked down at a map on the desk.

'Trust me, it'd have to be pretty bad to be worse than that place...' Kaida thought to herself.

"Off hand, guessing, I would have to say that he would be here." Torn pointed at a building marked on a map. Kaida glanced at the map, taking notice of the streets and whatever else she could make out. Her eyes flew over all the details and her mind mapped out the best route she could think up.

"Anything else?" Kaida asked after a moment. Torn shook his head and continued to look grumpy and unmoved. Kaida gave a last nod was about to leave, when she heard Torn again.

"Oh wait a minute, I almost forgot." though he didn't seem at all sorry about almost forgetting something. He reached to the behind his desk and tossed the silver/grey form of a mid-size gun. "I figured you might need a new one, after seeing that piece of trash you ruined." Torn smirked again, and Kaida felt the wave of indignity flow over her. She took the weapon in one smooth move and turned and left the hideout.

She took off out of the alleyway, pushing down the feeling of irritation and slight embarrassment, and pulling up the memories of her map. The new gun tapped heavily against her leg as she ran through the streets, along with Jak's gun in her pack, she wanted to take a zoomer, to shorten her time but she didn't know the streets well enough. If she went the wrong way she would lose time, and even though this wasn't part of _this_ game, every game she knew of, time was always important. She ran into the industrial sector of the city, and stopped at a corner in an attempt to catch her breath

She arrived at a large dark grey heavy duty door, unique as ever. As she was about to step forward her communicator spoke up out of her bag. It was Torn. "Hey, I have some important info, there is still a warrant going around for a man matching Jak's description, so it doesn't sound like they have any idea that they caught him."

"Thanks." Kaida replied. So didnt know who they had. That was good news. She pulled the new gun from her side and opened the door. The gun was larger than her last one, and had a design more like a shot gun from what she could tell, so she prepared for a kick. The hallway was empty, and she made her way with ease until she found a control room. There was no one around but she looked at the monitors and could see others were in the building. She looked from monitor to monitor searching for where they temporarily stored the prisoners. She looked over the displays and saw a map of the interior of the building for power use. She found the area simply labeled 'temporary holding cells'.

Her finger traced along the simple map, showing that there was indeed power being used in the temporary cells, meaning that there were prisoners here. As if they couldn't make it any easier, there were very few twists and turns in her path so far as she could tell. Kaida could hear the voices coming from just down the hall and around the corner from where she was currently standing.

From what she could remember from the map, this was just a hallway that had only small rooms, that had been empty from what she could tell, and most likely she would not turn that corner, gun blazing, to find the KG en masse. She cocked her gun and began her stealthy trip down the hall.

She leaned slowly around the corner, in an attempt to see exactly what she was up against. The KG liked to travel in pairs, it seemed. There was one pair casually talking and walking aimlessly up and down about 100ft's worth of the hallway. Farther down the hall she could see another pair, though they seemed to be guarding the joint where the other stretch of hall met this one. That meant that she would have at least four guards on her once she made her presence known. On top of that, if she predicted this correctly, there was another pair of guards down the hall that she could not see, though it would take them a moment to make it down the hall if they were spaced out like these were. And who knew exactly how many others might come out of the small rooms that were on this hallway.

She shook her head. If she couldn't help Jak out of this, then she was doomed anyway. Besides, she reasoned with herself, she owed Jak for helping her out when she had gotten captured. She watched the guards and when they both turned their heads and looked away from where she was crouching, she silently stood and walked up behind them, the closer she could get the better.

"Yeah, I know what you mean, I haven't had a real meal in this place since..." she could pick up on their conversation. They really seemed bored.

"You would think that they would at least keep-" That was it, she was about 10 ft from the guards and one had begun shifting his weight and turning in her direction. She fired and he was blown backwards from the force of the blast.

"What?!" the other guard screamed in surprise, but he only had a moment to take in what had happened as Kaida primed her gun again and took aim at him. The two guards from the end of the hallway came running towards her, their guns firing, though they didn't seem to have very good aim. The aim of said guards might have been off, but the fact that they could shoot her at this distance was not a good thing. Her weapon might have been powerful, but it was basically a scatter-gun and thus, its range was minimal.

She moved sideways with her back against the wall to present as small of a target as possible. She ducked and ran straight down the hall as fast as she could, directly for the two guards. In their surprise at her sudden rush their rain of gunfire paused. Taking this chance she fired, this time, not at either guard, but directly between them. The force of the shot knocked both of them to the ground but did not put either of them out. It took another shot to do that job.

She turned the corner and came face to face with another pair of guards, that she had anticipated to be there. Unfortunately it seemed like there were pairs littered all down these halls. And now that her cover had been blown, every time she would take down the next set of guards, more would hear her from down the hall and come running. There wasn't an overwhelming flood of them, but there was a steady flow. It was just bad enough that she barely had time to reload her weapon.

'This would be one of those few times when you might be helpful!' she said loudly in her mind. She frowned when there was no response, yet again. Her darkness might have taken to ignoring her, but when her _life _was in danger, usually was enough cue for the darkness to demand to take over.

'But not this time, apparently.'she muttered in her mind. Oddly enough she felt her anger starting to well up at the thought of her darker half ignoring her. And every moment that she was under the pressure of the advancing guard, she felt her anger growing. She had never felt her emotions rocket like this. She was normally very level headed. Even with the dark eco, she had only become angry then the darkness would force control away.

She felt the hot sting as one guard managed to graze her previously wounded leg. Without waiting to get closer as she ran, she fired her gun. The blast merely unsettled the two guards but it was enough to stop their gunfire. She swung her gun seconds later, as she reached them, slamming the heavy piece of metal into the helmet of one unlucky guard, and she swung her fist into the other guard's stomach. Her gun followed through, with a blow to the back of the head. Ignoring the pain in the fist that had punched into the guards armor she turned to face the next set of guards coming up the hall.

She felt all of her angry emotion rise and finally there was a familiar sensation of energy racing up her veins. She didn't care, she was just furious at nothing in particular. Her gun found its way back to her side, but Kaida wouldn't need it. She was faster now, and the tore down the hallway, not even bothering to notice as the guards began to fire at the fearsome creature she had become.

Her claws tore into the two guards without even a care. As they fell to the ground any and all dark eco that might have been stuck to their suits for whatever reason was absorbed into her body. She continued to run, the dark energy arching around her. The next set of guards had barely started down the hallway as she charged down it at them. She felt a smile split her face and she dragged her bloody claws along the wall. Sure it was a little dramatic, but hey, frightened prey was the best kind.

She was met with a sudden surprise as a second pair of guards joined the first, who may very well have wet themselves.

"Halt!" They screamed at her. This was the line she had been waiting for. They always yelled it as if anyone every listened. She jumped and put one fist into the other hand, leaned back and slammed her fists into the ground as she landed.

There was a massive shockwave and explosion of dark energy and the guards all dropped to the ground. As she rounded the final corner, she found that she had inadvertently taken out a couple more guards who had been in the larger room that she was now standing in. There was a massive, what looked like a boiler, in the center of the room. About 20 cell doors lined the room, each with a mechanized door lock. This was no where near as bad of a lock-down place as the prison in the palace.

Kaida strode arrogantly along the cells, looking in the doors to find the one that she was searching for. Suddenly she stopped and smashed the lock, with what she knew was the last bit of her darkened strength. Kaida yanked the smashed door open as a wave of dizziness over took her. She wobbled and sank to her knees. She felt her claws shrink away, and watched the hair in front of her face turn from silver to black and gold. A shiver ran through her body as a wave of coldness swept her.

Daxter had been looking through the bars of this damned cell since he had heard that first gunshot ring. Who ever the hell was daring to shoot inside this Krimson Guard place couldn't be all bad, and maybe he could beg them into letting him out. Jak would have stood and stared with him but he was opting to stay off his leg until it was necessary.

"Whoever it is, it sounds like they are doing a real number on those guards." The small orange rodent said over his shoulder. A sudden and deep explosion only confirmed his thoughts. Daxter craned his head and pushed his face against the bars as hard as he could in an attempt to get a good look at what was going on. A pained grunt from Jak brought Daxter's attention back to him.

"Jak, you ok?" Daxter had a worried look on his furry face, and Jak looked up.

"Yeah, I'm peachy." suddenly he sat stock still. He felt something, something familiar. The dark eco was resonating with something. The smallest twinge of a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth.

"Dax, you might want to get away from those bars." Daxter looked from his friend to the door and back. He hopped off the door and headed slowly for his friend on the floor.

"Jak you sure you're..." he was cut off by a wondrous smashing sound and the door dented inwards slightly. Daxter's hair stood on end as he ran up Jak's arm in fright. Jak glared, hoping against hope that whoever or whatever had smashed that door wasn't going for him next. He had no gun, his leg was killing him, and for precursor's sake this was just not his day. The door swung inwards slightly, and there was an almost silence.

Everything had suddenly gone calm. He slowly got to his feet as best as he could and made his way carefully to the door. Jak paused for only a moment, and hearing nothing, he pushed the door open enough to look out into the room. A moments hesitation, then he shoved the door the rest of the way open. Kaida put a hand to her temple as she waited to the wooziness to clear. Looking up from her position on her knees she saw Jak looking at her with mild surprise and worry. She flashed an over emphasized grin up at him and moved herself to her feet. Jak was filled with surprise and thankfulness, but he let only a little show on his face and smirked lightly as he limped up to her.

"So it was you making all of that ruckus? I should have figured." Jak said as Kaida got to her feet. " you have no finesse." Kaida merely shrugged as she looked at them and shook her head. She looked over at Jak's leg and became a little worried. She knew he was really fine, and it wasn't a wound that would cause any real lasting problems, but she couldn't help it.

"We need to find something for your leg, buddy." Daxter voiced for her. Jak wanted nothing more to say that it was fine and hobble out of here without a second thought because his ego was demanding that he do just that but, even he knew that this injury was part of what got him in here in the first place. Kaida nodded and the trio headed out of the door Kaida had come in. She attempted to pull up the computer map in her head as best as she could but she could not remember anything that might have been a first aid center in this building. She opted for checking the rooms that she figured had the highest likelihood of containing one of the KG boxes.

At this point, if anyone else were going to come for her from inside the building they would have already been here by now, and so it wouldn't hurt. As Kaida was about to throw open the first door she suddenly stopped and turned to Jak. She pulled his gun from her pack and handed it to him.

After checking room after room as they headed down the hallway, they at last came to a room stocked with several KG boxes. Kaida expertly cracked a few of them open to find plenty of ammo and a few good packs of green eco. She brought the packs to Jak and he chose to sit on the ground to administer the eco to himself. As Kaida stocked her gun and filled her pack with ammo, Jak used the health kits to fix his wounds. With his leg as good as new, Jak was eager to stroll out of this damned place.

"Oh yes, Jak, you are lucky." Kaida said over her shoulder as the made their way quickly towards the exit.

"Is that right? This isn't exactly what I call luck." Jak replied with a sourness to his last few words.

"Yes, the KG, they didn't know what they had." she responded with no worry to his sourness.

"What do you mean?" he was a little confused.

"You've done something. Big. And they want you captured even more badly now. But, while you were caught, your warrant was still being announced."

"Then the Baron isn't going to be happy with these soldiers when he finds out about this." Jak smirked and looked around at the mess Kaida had made of the place. He really didn't care what the Baron did, but he knew that this would really get under his skin, especially after just recently having his ass handed to him. Kaida observed the smirk on his face. It told her he had been up to something. She already knew that he had to have done something wonderfully reckless in order to have been injured and captured like he had. Kaida had been far more concerned with Jak being captured and how to get him out, rather than thinking of exactly how he had been captured. She had a few ideas, but whatever would happen next would tell her which idea was right.

They escaped the building with no problems and grabbed a couple of zoomers. They arrived at the hideout in little time and made their way back down into the safe, hidden rooms. They only had a moment to breathe in the peace of the underground before Torn began grilling Jak.

"The city is on high alert! What the HELL did you two do?!" Torn demanded slamming his fist on his desk.

"Us?" Daxter quickly responded, innocently. "Nothing. We been... ah, sightseeing. Right Jak?"

"Really?! Then why are the Krimson Guard looking for..." Torn consulted a small piece of paper. "A dangerous young man with light hair, blue tunic, and a rabid orange RAT on his shoulder?" Torn prompted dangerously.

"Ahh, could be anyone. Orange is the new black this season." Daxter covered badly.

"Look, we climbed up to the Baron's palace and we... tripped a few alarms." Jak confessed, but with no hint of worry, remorse, or apology. Kaida silently observed the spectacle from a safe distance. Once the conversation had begun she had placed exactly what had gone on before Jak's capture.

"Oh right... that too." Daxter muttered and shrunk a little.

"What? I didn't authorize a strike on the..." Torn protested, angry that they had acted without permission.

"Hey, we kicked the Baron's ASS. Unfortunately he escaped." Jak stated against Torn's anger.

"And," Daxter added, "we overheard a secret meeting with the leader of the metal heads."

"You saw the metal head leader?" asked a soft voice from the side of the room It was Kor, whom Kaida and Jak had both failed to notice when they had entered.

"No, he was on some communicator, but we heard him talking with Baron Praxis." replied Jak, not worried at the sudden interest of Kor.

"The Baron is bribing the metal heads with eco!" Daxter added.

"Hmph. It will never be enough." responded Kor with disdain.

"But the Baron's gonna double cross them!"

"Well, our good Baron's 'charm' must have angered someone, because there is word from the wasteland that the metal head armies are on the move again!"

"Why didn't you tell me that Ashelin is Praxis' daughter?! What is your connection to her?" Jak demanded, ignoring both Kor and Dax.

"That is none of your business!" Torn yelled, ready to stare Jak down. "Since you've stirred up the wumbees nest, you and whiskers here get to move four of our people to new safe houses. Shuttle each agent to a location they specify. Move them without ANY casualties. Don't screw this up Jak!" Torn, always ready to launch right into the next mission. Quickly gave them their first location and sat down in a huff, obviously demanding that they vacate ASAP. Jak was more than willing to comply if meant he could avoid the brunt of Torn's anger, and if it could get him closer to what he wanted. It didn't take long for Jak and Daxter to be out of the hideout. Jak stalked to the flier that was parked in the alleyway.

"What a real load. Why the hell do we get stuck doing this errand boy shit?" Daxter complained from his perch. Jak shrugged.

"Well we did raise the alarms, so it is kind of our fault." Jak reasoned. Daxter, however, continued to grumble, though he knew it was the truth. Kaida had remained behind, when a glance form Torn while he was chewing out Jak and Daxter had told her to stay. She remained where she had stood and waited for Torn's acknowledgment. Finally Torn sighed exasperatedly and sank into his chair. He casually shuffled some papers around on his desk. Kaida shifted her weight from side to side and waited.

"So," Torn spoke without looking up and caused Kaida to start at the initial sound. "How were you involved in this ridiculous mess?"

"I wasn't." Kaida said once she recovered herself.

"Is that so. Where were you then?" Torn didn't sound like he didn't believe her, but he asked the question anyway.

"Sightseeing." she replied shortly. Torn looked up at her, and amused look on his face at her particular response. But he got the point, and gave another heavy sigh.

"Right. So, since you've spent your morning off gallivanting on your own little escapades, its now time to do some work." he looked up at her. "There have been some issues in the past in Dead Town. I want you to go and scout out the area." Kaida paused for a moment thinking it over.

"Is there something you aren't telling me?" she asked, just to make sure she had the whole story.

"There's metal heads." Torn responded with a touch of sarcasm. He went back to looking at his papers, as a sign that he had nothing else to tell her and she had better get his ass going.

"Of course." Kaida responded and left the hideout. Her mind was still abuzz with questions about the silence in her mind. If there were anything in her thoughts that might have lead her to believe that perhaps she was cured, the fact that she had transformed in that KG stronghold shot a million holes in that hope.

But she still had to wonder what had happened. Even while the anger had flooded her system, she hadn't heard her darkness, not once. After she had put her gun away and opted for hand to hand, armed with claws, she had heard no response from her darkness. Nothing had called even so much as a whisper. Was that wretched voice truly gone? Kaida couldn't dare hope. Or, if that was true, it could mean worse things. If the second voice was gone from her mind, it could mean that this dark eco was permanent. Going home... the thoughts ?

wove through her mind. If she could not remove the eco, what would happen when she went home?

* * *

Oh man, sorry that took so long and i am sorry that this chapter is complete crap. school has been a real handful and i have been busy with other things too. This is basicaly a filler chapter. I promise i will get to the damn point soon enough and i swear it will be good. thanks too all of you who still read this story!


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